Children "held like criminals" inside ICE detention center

You've been inside Dilley. Yes. Describe it for me. It is a series of trailers. Families and children alike consistently report that they do not have access to sufficient clean drinking water, that they found live worms, bugs, and mold in their meals. The lights are on 24/7, making it really difficult for everyone detained there to sleep. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): Those accounts have been repeated by dozens of detainees in sworn testimony, written letters and interviews. You need to move quickly. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): More than 6,300 children have been detained by federal immigration authorities during President Trump's second term, some as young as two months old. Nearly half have been detained at Dilley. 97% had no criminal record. It's the only place I can think of in America where we imprison young children who have done absolutely nothing wrong. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): Congressman Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from San Antonio, is calling for Dilley to be shut down. Instead of treating them like asylum-seekers who were vetted to come into the country, they're treating them like criminals. What could the policy objective be of creating conditions like these? I think it's meant to send a very ugly message that we don't want you here, that you're not welcome. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): Dilley opened in 2014. President Obama intended to hold migrant families there who'd been caught crossing the Southern border illegally. President Biden closed it a decade later. When President Trump reopened Dilley in 2025, a for-profit company, CoreCivic, was given a contract worth $180 million annually to run it. CoreCivic denies the charges of any substandard care or conditions at Dilley. Joel, Estefania and Carine were held at Dilley for almost four months. For all we've been through, going to Dilley just, like, broke our hearts. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): That alone violated something called the Flores settlement, a federal order that's been in place for nearly 30 years, requiring the prompt release of children. One federal court has said that means no more than 20 days. Did you think to yourself, well, there's laws in place. We can't be here more than 20 days. Yes. But they broke all those laws. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): While a federal court has rejected a White House effort to terminate the Flores settlement, the administration is appealing. This is my sixth trip to Dilley since President Trump has been in office the second time. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): We went to Dilley with Congressman Castro this past week, where families also complain about a lack of health care and a lack of education for their kids. These kids are-- they're hugging my leg and they're asking me to get them out of there. I mean, they're four years old, six years old, and they're basically in a trailer prison. But this is as far as we can go. Yeah. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): Our CBS News crew got as far as the front gate.

All right. We'll get out then. So the restrictions here at Dilley. No reporters allowed. And even those who do get in-- like members of the US House of Representatives-- having to surrender their phones upon entry. I mean, there are somewhere near 100 children inside Dilley, and not one picture of the conditions in which they live. They told us that there are three kids who are under the age of three. We met with a 15-year-old boy. He said that he hasn't eaten in days because he doesn't feel like eating. He's depressed. Are you surprised that even you can't use your camera, use your phone? Yeah I'm surprised that we let them get away with this. I'm surprised that we've not taken a stronger stand and said, when you've got a group of people, including kids, that have committed no crime, we're not going to put up with that. We're going to be able to see what's going on. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): According to its 2027 budget proposal, the White House wants to add 30,000 more beds in family detention centers. Our request to the Department of Homeland Security to discuss Dilley were denied, but they did provide a written statement. "Another day and another hoax about the South Texas Family Residential Center. Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention facilities is false. All detainees are provided with proper meals, quality water, blankets and medical treatment." And called the Flores settlement, "A tool of the left." Americans don't yet know what is happening at the family detention center in Dilley. And once more people know, people will feel motivated to speak out against the abuses there. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): As for Joel, Estefania and Carine-- Hello? JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): --while we were still with them in Maine-- Hey, Olivia! Olivia [NON-ENGLISH] JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): --they got the call. [EXCITED CHATTER] Olivia would be released after than five months in detention. A few days later, an airport reunion gave this family's Dilley story a happier ending than most. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] While Joaquin Castro and others share the family's joy, he says this is the exception, not the rule. The government knows they're not criminals, and yet they're being held like criminals. JIM AXELROD (VOICEOVER): And that it's what we can't see where Congressman Castro thinks we should train our focus.

To really understand what's going on with Dilley, we've got to be able to see what's going on behind those walls. There's a brutality behind those walls.