The mental strain can be just as severe. During a recent visit, Lee said, a 5-year-old girl told her about recurring nightmares. A large animal chases her, but she can’t escape because she’s locked in a cage.
She and her siblings “wake up every night crying for their mother because they’re afraid they’ll be separated from her,” Lee said.
Lawyers representing detainees argue that prolonged confinement in harsh conditions, along with repeated warnings about family separation, is aimed at coercing parents to abandon pending asylum claims that could allow them to remain in the United States.
Javier Hidalgo, legal director for RAICES, which provides legal assistance to immigrant families in Texas, including Dilley, said DHS is telling detained families, “If you want this to stop, please agree to waive your case.” “We’ve heard that over and over again.”
Kelly Vargas said she felt the pressure from the moment she and her husband arrived in Dilley with their daughter Maria.
The family came to the United States in 2022 after fleeing Colombia and settling in New York, where they regularly checked in with immigration officials. They had applied for special visas for human trafficking victims, saying they had been subjected to forced labor and death threats while traveling in Mexico.
Vargas said that after they were arrested during an immigration check in September and sent to Dille, officers repeatedly pressured her and her husband to withdraw their visa applications.
“He told us that if we didn’t deport her, he would take her away,” she said. “Our daughter ended up in the custody of the state, where not even our lawyers knew where she was.”
Vargas said she and her husband initially resisted, but were determined to fight for the life they had built in New York, where he worked on construction sites during the day and she worked as a waitress and janitor at night. Initially, they told Maria they were on vacation in Texas, but the girl knew better. She got down on her knees and begged to go home to see her cat, Milo. Vargas said the screams were so loud that at times even the staff seemed shaken.
“Please get me out of here,” she cried. “I want to leave.”
Vargas said Maria’s health rapidly deteriorated. She started coughing, had trouble eating, and started losing weight as the days went by. Vargas said a cleaning staff member then accidentally hit her in the eye with a mop, causing it to bleed.
Vargas said her daughter continued to complain of blurred vision, sensitivity to light and hearing loss, but doctors ignored her concerns and delayed further evaluation.
Vargas said she and her husband finally agreed to leave the house after their daughter became ill.
They were deported to Colombia in November.
Vargas said recovery from the ordeal is taking longer. Maria still has vision problems and headaches. The kind girl who loved her teachers and played with Barbie dolls is now fearful and withdrawn, often talking about her weeks in Texas and the workers who watched over her.
She gets nervous every time she sees a police officer.
“It’s the bad guys’ fault,” she says.
