Protesters from across Texas convened in Dilley, Texas on April 18 to object to inhumane conditions reported at Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the nation’s only migrant family detention facility.
Dozens of protesters from Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley, participated in the planned protest organized by the Blue Bunny Brigade, Project Unidad, and the League of United Latin American Citizens, along with other civil rights groups.
Organizers stated their overall goal is shutting down the detention center, with the children released and families reconnected by Mother’s Day. The number of detainees in the facility has decreased since the Trump administration first reopened it in 2025., According to protest organizers, there are now at least 300 individuals currently still detained.
Participants at the protest said their main purpose for attending was raising awareness.
Cat Yuracka, a 72-year-old seasoned protester, has attended multiple protests for nearly a decade. “My goal is to raise awareness. The more soccer moms who know that there’s kids inside there — suffering. To make sure the word gets out, that Texans… we don’t want to stand for this,” Yuracka said.
She came by station wagon from San Marcos with friends from Austin and San Antonio in support of advocating for better conditions for the children detained in Dilley.
“I feel just as responsible. I might not be putting up the fences and holding them in there, but it’s my tax dollars that are paying them,” she said.
The protest included numerous speakers who made their stance on the issue heard.
Gina Hinojosa, candidate for Texas Governor against Greg Abbot, showed her support not only as a political figure but as a mother herself.
“It is time to say no, to make a moral stand. Because if we cannot do it for our children, then I don’t know if we can do it for anyone. I don’t know if we can save ourselves,” Hinojosa said.
One speaker read a statement from the El Gamal family, an Egyptian family of six who have spent 10 months detained in the Dilley detention center.
The statement, read by a friend of the family’s eldest daughter, Habiba Soliman, described the inhospitable experiences within the center by mother Hayam El Gamal and her children. The statement included accounts of medical neglect, inedible food, and inhumane living conditions.
The family was first detained last June, when husband and father Mohamed Sabry Soliman was charged with attacking Jewish protesters in Boulder, Colorado who were supporting the release of Israeli hostages. Soliman is in federal custody, and his family has disavowed him, refused contact and his wife filed for divorce the family’s attorney told the Texas Tribune.
“This place is a prison. My children didn’t do anything to deserve this. Children shouldn’t be punished for their parents’ actions. Please treat us as an innocent family. We will follow the law, just as we have been doing our entire lives,” an excerpt from the letter read.
The Dilley detention center was also under national scrutiny in late January when 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Conejo Arias from Minnesota were placed in the facility.
On April 20, a federal judge in Texas ordered the release of the El Gamal family, though they remain detained in Dilley.
The Foghorn News reached out to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for comment about the protest but was unable to speak with anyone.
