Inside the Dilley detention center: A 17-year-old soccer fan and thousands of other children held for months

For Joel Andre, a 17-year-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Cup is a welcome escape. His family, now living in Maine, is still waiting for his older sister Olivia to be reunited with them after five months in immigration detention. But millions of Americans may have no idea what’s happening behind the walls of the facility where she was held.

The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, has become a flashpoint in the debate over immigration enforcement. Since President Trump returned to office, more than 6,300 children under 18 have been detained by federal immigration authorities, according to data obtained by CBS News. Nearly half of them have been held in Dilley. And 97 percent had no criminal record.

The facility, operated by the private prison company CoreCivic under a contract worth $180 million annually, is supposed to hold migrant families who crossed the border illegally. But many of those sent there, like Joel and his family, came seeking asylum after fleeing persecution at home. Joel’s mother, Carine, was an activist brutalized by the Congolese regime. The family was granted entry and released pending their asylum hearing—until a judge ordered their deportation in February 2025. They tried to go to Canada, were turned back, and ended up in Dilley.

“In Dilley was very hard, very hard,” Joel said. “The food, the water you drink, even the water you shower, is the worst.”

Conditions described by detainees in sworn testimony and letters include live worms in meals, lights kept on 24/7, and insufficient drinking water. Elora Mukherjee, director of Columbia University’s Immigrant Rights Clinic and the family’s lawyer, said the facility is a “series of trailers” where families report a lack of basic necessities.

Representative Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who has visited Dilley six times since Trump returned to office, said the conditions are meant to send a message. “Instead of treating them like asylum seekers who were vetted to come into the country, they’re treating them like criminals,” he said. Castro has called for the center to be shut down.

Dilley first opened in 2014 under President Obama and was closed by President Biden in 2023. When Trump reopened it in 2025, CoreCivic took over. The company denies allegations of substandard care, saying the water is tested monthly and menus are approved by dietitians. It also notes that Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar recently visited and offered a different assessment.

The Department of Homeland Security provided a statement calling the reports “hoaxes” and insisting that all detainees receive proper meals, medical care, and educational programs.

But federal law—specifically the Flores Settlement—requires the prompt release of children, generally within 20 days. Joel and his family were held for nearly four months. A federal court has rejected the administration’s attempt to terminate the settlement, but the White House is appealing. Meanwhile, Trump’s 2027 budget proposal includes plans to add 30,000 more family detention beds.

For Joel’s sister Estafania, the experience broke her heart. “I have a hope that we can all be together, but I don’t know when, where,” she said.

In a rare happy ending, Olivia was released days after CBS News interviewed the family in Maine. But Castro warns that for most, the outcome is not so fortunate. “The government knows they’re not criminals, and yet they’re being held like criminals,” he said. “To really understand what’s going on with Dilley, we gotta be able to see what’s going on behind those walls.”