Dilley, Texas — The demand to end family detention is gaining renewed momentum alongside calls to cut Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding amidst growing outrage at ICE violence in Minneapolis, including the targeting of Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old who was abducted by ICE with his dad and later sent to the South Texas Family Detention Center (Dilley). Today, U.S. Congressional Representatives Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) and Joaquin Castro (TX-20) will be at the South Texas Family Detention Center to conduct an oversight visit. A press conference in San Antonio with the attorney representing Liam Ramos and a vigil, organized by Texas-based advocates, will follow outside of the facility.
The National Coalition to End Family and Child Detention is calling for a show of solidarity with nationwide “Free Families” vigils today, January 28th at 12 pm ET/ 11 AM CT/ 9 AM PT, to build on the growing momentum spurred by the courageous families – primarily children – detained at Dilley who staged their own protest on Saturday at the facility chanting “libertad,” or “freedom.”
The National Coalition to End Family and Child Detention, comprised of over 40 organizations across the country, is meeting the moment by demanding:
- An end to family detention,
- no funding for ICE,
- and immediate action to stop the widespread abuse and neglect that children and adults are experiencing in ICE custody.
“Make no mistake, we are in a critical moment for the country,” said Kristin Kumpf, coordinator of the National Coalition to End Family and Child Detention. “Whether targeting people in the streets, where they work or live, or behind closed doors in one of ICE’s nearly 200 abuse-ridden detention centers across the country — ICE is an inherently violent agency jeopardizing families and community safety. No one feels the impact of ICE violence more than children. We are calling for nationwide ‘Free Families’ vigils as a show of solidarity for the kids and parents inside family detention.”
Currently, there are more than 70,000 people in ICE detention, an all-time high, with a record number of deaths in ICE custody, including six deaths in just the first two weeks of 2026. At this time, the South Texas Family Detention Center, in Dilley, Texas, is the only operating family detention center with a capacity to incarcerate 2,400 families. Trump’s alarming return to family detention, a policy that was widely condemned by the American public and had been dormant for years before his re-election, is yet another layer of the Trump administration’s unprecedented and cruel expansion of immigration detention. Family detention centers have a well-documented history of negligence and abuse, including inadequate medical and mental health care, unhealthy weight loss among children, and disciplinary tactics, including threats to separate families.
“Taking away a child’s freedom and deliberately putting them in these conditions is unconscionable, as is denying a parent their most fundamental role of providing their child with a loving and nurturing environment,” added Kristin. “As the outcry over ICE abuse and violence continues to grow, we must demand an end to family detention. Family detention, like all immigration detention, is inhumane, unjust, and completely arbitrary. Detention is harmful and traumatic for everyone, especially for children.”
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The National Coalition to End Family and Child Detention