Small Texas town offers a glimpse of life beside a massive ICE detention facility
A small South Texas town is suddenly at the center of a national immigration fight. Dilley — once known mostly for its watermelon festival — now lives alongside one of the country’s largest and most controversial ICE detention facilities. After Congress approved billions to expand detention space, ICE has been moving quickly to grow capacity nationwide. Your reporter traveled five hours south to see how a rural community already hosting a major facility is coping with the attention, the tension, and the day‑to‑day reality of coexisting with it.