Yassamin Ansari calls for closure of Texas ICE detention center after oversight visit

Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari called for the immediate closure of the Dilley ICE detention center Tuesday after visiting the facility with a congressional delegation.

Ansari, who represents Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, called the conditions for detained women, children and families horrific.

Joined @JoaquinCastrotx and @DemWomenCaucus at Dilley Trailer Prison in Texas. Here, children are being locked away and traumatized, are fed food with worms and mold, and are denied medical care.

No child deserves this. We demand Trump #ShutDownDilley and free the children. pic.twitter.com/ARxX27Jt0Y

— Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari) July 29, 2026

“Children are being jailed and traumatized while private contractors’ profit from it, all at the expense of American taxpayers,” Ansari said in a statement.

The visit was Ansari’s twelfth reported oversight trip to an ICE detention facility. She has introduced legislation to repeal a $75 billion ICE funding increase included in the administration’s budget package.

“I will never be the same”

Ansari described meeting a detained 16-year-old girl and her father, neither of whom had a criminal record. She said the father was visibly distraught about the fate of his family, including his wife and two sons at home.

“I will never be the same after I leave this place,” Ansari recalled one detained woman telling her.

The Dilley facility is operated by CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison companies in the country.

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