Newly released audio of 911 calls made from the immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, reveals extremely young children in physical distress who have required serious medical attention. These incidents are occurring as fallout from President Donald Trump’s push for a mass deportation policy.
NBC News published the calls on Friday and they reveal the human toll of the Trump administration’s actions. In the audio, staffers at Dilley explain a series of dire situations to 911 operators.
For instance, in one case staffers report that that a 17-month-old child is suffering from respiratory distress, while in another call a 22-month-old child was having trouble breathing and had a reported oxygen level of 85%—levels below 95% are abnormal in children and brain activity can be affected at the 80-85% range.
Other calls reveal children with fevers, fractures, and other medical issues. NBC reported that in at least three cases children had to be flown from the Dilley center to a specialized pediatric hospital.
The Dilley cases are a real-world example of what studies conducted by scientists have previously uncovered—that the health of people detained at immigration centers, particularly children, suffer adverse effects compared to those who are not warehoused in these conditions.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem
The pain and suffering of immigration detention is what led a coalition of medical providers to send a letter on Thursday to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and congressional leaders calling for an immediate end to childhood immigration detention.
The letter writers identified themselves as “physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, allied healthcare professionals, and public health professionals who care for children in clinics, emergency departments, hospitals, and intensive care units across the United States.”
“The detention of children in these facilities is causing predictable, severe, and lasting harm to their mental and physical health,” they wrote, adding, “It is well established that even brief confinement can cause psychological trauma and lifelong harm by exposing children to toxic stress that disrupts brain development.”
The Dilley detention center is the same location where Minnesota preschooler Liam Ramos and his family were taken by ICE after he was abducted, generating widespread public outrage which led to eventual release.
Children being held at Dilley have described themselves as being kidnapped and told journalists with ProPublica about their anguish at being separated from their communities and families. After drawings and letters from children at Dilley became public, the facility began a crackdown on communication with the outside.
Dilley is run by the private group CoreCivic and former President Joe Biden ended the policy of holding families there in 2021. Trump restarted family detention at Dilley last year as part of his push for mass deportation.
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Congressional Republicans authorized billions in spending for the Trump administration to replicate the situation at Dilley across the nation, meaning more children will be made to suffer—but the public is unlikely to hear all of the sordid details as heard on these calls for help.
