{"id":23861,"date":"2026-08-01T03:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23861"},"modified":"2026-08-01T03:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:27:11","slug":"senate-report-describes-top-down-culture-of-cruelty-in-ice-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23861","title":{"rendered":"Senate Report Describes \u2018Top-Down Culture of Cruelty\u2019 in ICE Detention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\">\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/INSIGHTS%20FROM%20THE%20DILLEY%20IMMIGRATION%20PROCESSING%20CENTER_1qayxhfwpgjw3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">new report<\/a> from Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) details shocking allegations about the conditions inside an ICE detention facility in Texas. The report, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/INSIGHTS%20FROM%20THE%20DILLEY%20IMMIGRATION%20PROCESSING%20CENTER_1qayxhfwpgjw3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">published on Friday<\/a>, was based on interviews Senate staff conducted with \u201capproximately 20 family units and approximately 40 women detained in the adult detention unit\u201d at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, it said. In a statement released along with the report, Durbin described the findings as part of \u201can ongoing investigation into medical and mental health care\u201d in immigration detention facilities. He also called for the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is the ranking member, to hold a hearing on the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cChildren and their parents described a top-down culture of cruelty among Dilley staff, including guards deliberately disrupting children\u2019s sleep at night, purposely entering rooms without knocking, and taunting children who are often provided with inedible food by eating candy and pizza in front of them,\u201d Durbin said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>CoreCivic, a private prison company that operates the Dilley facility, did not immediately respond to TPM\u2019s request for comment. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment from TPM. When reached by TPM, the White House referred all questions about the report to ICE.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Along with the other disturbing claims, Durbin\u2019s report alleges there is \u201csubstandard medical care\u201d at the facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPoor medical care was the most urgent concern raised by both families and adult women. They described a range of unaddressed health issues and voiced that, because they were not receiving adequate care, those medical conditions are worsening,\u201d the report said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Specific issues detailed in the report include a mother and child who were ill yet allegedly \u201cwere repeatedly refused blankets to address the extremely cold temperatures in their unit.\u201d The report also described multiple instances where detainees said they were not given care despite \u201cextreme\u201d pain and others who said chronic or troubling conditions were not addressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Along with the allegedly inadequate medical care, the report also claimed facility staff failed to provide detainees with proper meals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne family reported finding worms and a fingernail in their food. Several families said their children refused to eat facility meals entirely,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>A lack of required educational programs is another issue detailed in the report, which said Judiciary Committee staffers found \u201cno evidence that the facility was meeting \u2026 basic education standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne 16-year-old described the education offered at Dilley as \u2018drawing in coloring books,\u2019 which was not appropriate for students his age,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of school programs was described in the report as part of a pattern of \u201cpsychological harm to children\u201d that included \u201cdemeaning, dismissive, and abusive behavior by Dilley staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne parent reported that guards who are perceived as \u2018too nice\u2019 are scolded by supervisors and told to be harsher. A guard told the parent: \u2018You only have three rights here: drink, sleep, eat.\u2019\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<p>The report also said Dilley detainees face a lack of access to family members and attorneys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of them stated they have committed no crimes, have pending immigration cases, have minor children at home, and have lived in the United States for years. They stated repeatedly that they have followed the rules, and they are not criminals\u2014and do not understand why they are being treated as if they are. They are desperate to be reunited with their families and spoke about their efforts to seek release through habeas petitions,\u201d the report explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dilley has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tpr.org\/news\/2026-04-17\/ice-protest-caravans-set-to-converge-on-dilley-detention-center-saturday\" target=\"_blank\">a hotbed for protests<\/a> and activism that <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/feature\/secretive-rapid-response-networks-are-operating-in-communities-terrorized-by-ice-raids\" target=\"_blank\">have taken place around the country<\/a> in response to ICE and President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda. Durbin claimed the Judiciary Committee staff had issues speaking to detainees as part of what the report described as \u201cDHS obstruction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy staff visited Dilley as part of an ongoing investigation into medical and mental health care, solitary confinement, and access to counsel in immigration detention. During that visit, in an attempt to curtail oversight, DHS imposed an arbitrary two-hour time limit on visiting the facility,\u201d Durbin said in his statement.<\/p>\n<p>Other members of Congress have <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/feature\/how-rep-dan-goldmans-office-became-a-triage-center-for-ice-detainees\" target=\"_blank\">similarly accused<\/a> DHS and ICE of attempting to thwart lawmakers\u2019 right to conduct oversight in what they have called a violation of legislation. The practice led to <a href=\"https:\/\/goldman.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/rep-goldman-members-congress-win-relief-lawsuit-demanding-trump-administration\" target=\"_blank\">a successful lawsuit<\/a> in federal district court. In his statement, Durbin also suggested some of the things Judiciary Committee staff observed at Dilley violate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a court ruling that sets standards for immigration detention.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Durbin has previously released reports on conditions at ICE detention facilities in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durbin.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/durbin-reveals-devastating-insights-into-florida-ice-detention-facilities-in-exclusive-site-visit\/\" target=\"_blank\">Florida<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/SENATE%20JUDICIARY%20COMMITTEE%20RANKING%20MEMBER%20REVEALS%20DEVASTATING%20INSIGHTS%20INTO%20ICE%20DETENTION%20IN%20EXCLUSIVE%20SITE%20VISIT.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Louisiana<\/a>. Overall, his latest report blamed the issues in detention centers on Trump administration policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Trump Administration is intentionally subjecting longtime law-abiding residents of our communities and children who have grown up in our communities to neglectful and dangerous detention conditions,\u201d the report said, adding, \u201cIn a desperate attempt to meet Stephen Miller\u2019s quotas in furtherance of the Trump Administration\u2019s mass deportation campaign, immigration officials now target law-abiding families attending immigration<\/p>\n<p>court hearings and ICE check-ins.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Durbin\u2019s report also predicted the issues observed at Dilley will have devastating consequences and that \u201cmore people will die in detention without necessary medical care.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMedical care in immigration detention is dangerously inadequate. Immigration detention facility staff routinely deny or defer necessary medical treatment, providing only minimal care until emergency care is required. Without better policies for quickly addressing urgent medical needs, including facilitating release, more individuals, including children, will die in Detention,\u201d the report said. \u201cThirty-two people died in ICE custody in 2025\u2014the highest number in more\u00a0 than two decades. Twenty-two people have already died in ICE custody thus far in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n        appId: \"101800829865996\",\n        xfbml: true,\n        version: ' v2.6'\n      });\n      window.fbAsyncInit.__didInit = true;\n    };\n    (function(d, s, id) {\n      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n      if (d.getElementById(id)) {\n        return;\n      }\n      js = d.createElement(s);\n      js.id = id;\n      js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n  <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report from Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) details shocking allegations about the conditions inside an ICE detention facility in Texas. The report, which was published on Friday, was based on interviews Senate staff conducted with \u201capproximately 20 family units and approximately 40 women detained in the adult detention unit\u201d at the South&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1186718967.jpg?w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}