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Detainees held at the South Texas Family Residential Center wave signs during a demonstration in Dilley, Texas, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Brenda Baza\u0301n | AP)<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tDetainees held at the South Texas Family Residential Center wave signs during a demonstration in Dilley, Texas, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Brenda Baza\u0301n | AP)<\/p>\n
Sign up for TPR Today<\/a>, Texas Public Radio\u2019s newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.<\/p>\n A protest broke out Saturday at the South Texas family detention complex in Dilley, about 70 miles south of San Antonio, after guards abruptly ordered attorneys to leave while detainees \u2014 many of them children \u2014 poured into open areas of the facility chanting \u201cLibertad,\u201d or \u201cFreedom,\u201d according to an immigration attorney who witnessed the event.<\/p>\n Immigration attorney Eric Lee said he was at the Dilley facility for a confidential visit with clients \u2014 an immigrant family of six, including five children \u2014 when guards began shouting for everyone in the waiting area to leave, citing what they described as \u201can incident.\u201d<\/p>\n As the Michigan-based attorney walked toward his car, he said he heard what sounded like \u201chundreds of children\u201d shouting, with voices he described as \u201chigh-pitched\u201d and \u201curgent.\u201d He said he could see children streaming from dormitory areas behind a chain-link fence and chanting \u201cLibertad.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee said clients he later spoke with told him the protest was triggered by concerns over the treatment of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old who was taken into custody with his father in Minnesota earlier this week and transferred to the Dilley facility.<\/p>\n School officials in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, have said federal agents took the child from a running car in the family\u2019s driveway and directed him to knock on the door of the home \u2014 an action the superintendent described as \u201cessentially using a 5-year-old as bait.\u201d<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security has disputed that account, saying agents did not target the child, were focused on apprehending the child\u2019s father\u2014whom DHS said fled on foot\u2014and attempted to have the child\u2019s mother take custody of the boy.<\/p>\n Lee described Saturday\u2019s action inside the facility as a peaceful demonstration, not a riot, and said the show of solidarity carried risk for detained families.<\/p>\n Lee said the protest unfolded against what he described as harsh day-to-day conditions inside the Dilley detention center. He characterized the facility as \u201ca horrible, horrible place,\u201d alleging that drinking water is \u201cputrid\u201d and often undrinkable, and that meals have contained \u201cbugs,\u201d dirt, and debris.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guards are just as tough as the guards at the adult facilities. This is not a place that you would want to have your child be for even 15 minutes,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n I,\u2019m told by detainees at Dilley that 80 pct of facility currently protesting\u2013that would be ~1500. Guards physically blocking ppl from joining. Dozens of ICE CBP police cars racing to area. Detainees say protest triggered by news of events in Minneapolis & treatment of 5 yr old. pic.twitter.com\/LkUqFDj9X3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Eric Lee (@EricLeeAtty) January 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Lee said the site does not operate as \u201ccivil detention,\u201d arguing it functions like a punitive facility despite housing families.<\/p>\n CoreCivic, the private prison company that operates the site under federal contract, has previously said the facility is intended to provide an \u201copen and safe environment\u201d with access to services such as recreation, counseling, and legal resources.<\/p>\n Texas Public Radio reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment on the disturbance and on Lee\u2019s allegations regarding Liam Ramos\u2019 treatment but had not received a response by Saturday evening.<\/p>\n The Dilley detention complex \u2014 known for years as the South Texas Family Residential Center \u2014 closed in 2024 and later reopened, as federal authorities expanded detention capacity for immigrant families, according to prior reporting and company statements.<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s episode comes amid heightened scrutiny of immigration enforcement nationally, including protests in Minneapolis following the January 7 killing of Ren\u00e9e Macklin Good during an ICE operation, and another fatal shooting involving federal immigration agents reported Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t