Celebrity Call for Closure of Immigration Detention Center

Prominent Hollywood figures, including Jodie Foster, Ben Stiller, Spike Lee, and Edward Norton, are among those urging for the “immediate closure” of the Dilley Immigration Detention Center located in Texas.

A letter, made public last month, has garnered more than 215,000 signatures from actors, activists, artists, medical professionals, and others.

The missive stated, “Children in immigration detention endure trauma, neglect, and conditions that violate basic standards of health, safety, dignity, and human rights.”

It detailed allegations of abuse, including a denial of clean water, spoiled food infested with parasites, medical neglect, insufficient sleep, lack of legal representation, separation from families, and retaliatory measures against families who speak out. “Children belong in schools and playgrounds, not in detention centers,” it emphasized.

The center gained notoriety after a 5-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, was sent there following his father’s arrest in Minneapolis. Carly Perez Fernandez, the communications director for the Detention Watch Network and a member of the National Coalition to End Child and Family Detention, called for the termination of family detention practices.

“As the opposition to ICE abuse and violence intensifies, we must advocate for an end to family detention. Such detention, like all types of immigration detention, is both inhumane and unjust. Childhood is brief but vital for shaping a person’s long-term well-being; we must safeguard it,” she asserted.

The new wave of voices in the industry also includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Jessica Alba, Alyssa Milano, Boots Riley, Megan Rapinoe, and Tig Notaro.

Rachel, a well-known children’s program host, expressed when signing the letter, “Every child, wherever they are, has the right to feel safe, cared for, and treated with dignity.”

She added, “I think we can all agree that children shouldn’t be held in immigration detention centers under such harsh conditions. This is not what we envision for them.”