Congressman Joaquín Castro: Bearing Witness in the Dilley, Texas Detention Center, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Congressman Joaquín Castro: Bearing Witness in the Dilley, Texas Detention Center

by

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

February 23, 2026

When Joaquín Castro speaks about what he witnessed in Dilley, Texas, he is not speculating—he is bearing witness. He has reported that eight women are currently pregnant inside the South Texas Family Residential Center, a federal immigration detention facility funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and operated under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Eight pregnancies unfolding behind barbed wire.

These women remain largely out of public view, their prenatal care subject to conditions we can only imagine. As Castro emphasized during his February 20 visit, detention centers are not designed to safeguard maternal health. They are designed to confine.

He has also raised serious concerns about CoreCivic, the private corporation operating the facility, citing failures to provide even basic dental and general medical care to those detained. BlackRock is its largest shareholder. The land and structures are owned by Target Hospitality. The City of Dilley neither owns nor manages the site.

Originally opened in 2014 for family detention, the center houses hundreds of migrants — primarily women and children — and has long faced scrutiny over health care, living conditions, and the well-being of children held there.

If routine medical care is already inadequate, what does that mean for women who require consistent prenatal monitoring, proper nutrition, rest, and emergency responsiveness? What happens if complications arise?

The moral gravity deepens when we remember Liam Cornejo Ramos—and now two-month-old baby Juan Nicolas, reportedly suffering from bronchitis, who was recently deported to Mexico. An ill infant deported. Pregnant women detained. Children experiencing psychological, emotional, and physical harm in confinement.

A drawing shared with Congressman Castro by a child
during his visit who is currently held in detention.

These are not bureaucratic footnotes. They are human lives shaped by policy decisions and corporate contracts. When health care becomes secondary to detention quotas and profit margins, we move into dangerous territory.

Castro’s testimony pulls back the curtain. If these women are kept out of sight, they must not be kept out of conscience. Dilley is more than a point on a map. It is a test of our collective humanity. What we tolerate there, especially for pregnant women and sick children, will define us long after the headlines fade.