by Michael Karlis

A pediatric critical care doctor from Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday decried conditions inside the immigrant prison camp in Dilley, an hour southwest of San Antonio, as child abuse and a violation of human rights.



Dr. Anita K. Patel visited the South Texas Family Residential Center as part of a delegation led by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio. She told reporters during a downtown San Antonio press conference that at least seven children have either died while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody or shortly after their release.

The physician said she fears that number will grow if the “Dilley trailer prison,” as Castro calls it, isn’t shut down.

“These are not just diagnoses, these are cruel harms inflicted upon children,” Patel said. “Children like Liam Ramos, who is exhibiting signs of post-traumatic stress disorder to this day. Five-year-old Alexander, who was found in his cell with his mother’s pants cord wrapped around his neck because he did not want to be in detention anymore. And 9-year-old Kinec, a beautiful child with autism, whose autism became so severely exacerbated that he was not allowed to go outside anymore.”



Patel said children inside the detention center — which was shuttered during the Biden administration and reopened during President Donald Trump’s second term — also face physical forms of child abuse.



“The inadequate vetting, inadequate food and inadequate water …. these all represent child abuse, and they also represent human rights violations as defined by the United Nations,” she added.

Tuesday marked the seventh time Castro has visited the Dilley detention center. However, it marks the first time that a pediatrician has accompanied him to provide an assessment of the conditions inside.



As of press time, 539 individuals are locked up in Dilley, according to details shared by Castro’s delegation. That total includes 84 families, 112 children and four pregnant women. The number of incarcerated children at the camp has jumped from 96 in May, the congressman added.



“They characterized them as low-level non-criminals,” U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., a member of the delegation, told reporters at the press conference. “So, it seems, their only crime is that they exist.”

Castro told reporters that each subsequent visit he’s paid to the prison camp has become more restrictive. He said he was only able to talk to one child on Tuesday’s visit, a 16-year-old who was detained while on her way to church with a friend in San Antonio.



“They took her to Crosspoint, the processing center,” Castro said. “They told her dad that they were going to send her out of state if he didn’t come pick her up, and that he could come pick her up and take her home. When he showed up to pick her up, they took him in as well. And now they’re both at the Dilley trailer prison.”



Castro didn’t just have harsh words about the Dilley camp, however.

On Tuesday, Castro also visited San Antonio’s ICE check-in processing center at 3523 Crosspoint Drive, where he said immigration agents continue to violate migrants’ rights.

“\[The 16-year-old girl\] mentioned that in that room, where people are detained, there are cameras that can see the entire room,” the congressman said. “Not only is there a camera in the main room, but there’s a camera that’s pointed at the place where people use the restroom. That’s how dehumanizing the situation is for folks.”​



A digital sign that’s supposed to inform detained migrants of their rights at the Crosspoint processing center is in Mandarin Chinese, Castro said.

“Well, first of all, there’s hardly anyone there that is speaking Mandarin or another language like that,” he added.



Castro said he experienced a similar incident when he picked up the phone for the National Rape Abuse Hotline at the Dilley detention center and was only able to obtain communication in either Mandarin or some other “Asian language.”



“This is a system that is corrupt, that is duplicitous, that is reckless, and this detention center, the Dilley detention center, should absolutely be shut down, and we’re committed to working towards that,” he said.





Pediatrician calls conditions inside Dilley prison camp 'child abuse,' accuses ICE of human rights violations. Dr. Anita Patel’s comments came after she visited the immigrant detention center near San Antonio as part of a delegation led by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro.