Thousands of people – including a number of high-profile figures – have added their names to an open letter calling for the “immediate closure” of an ICE detention facility.
The facility in question is the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where ICE detainees, including children and families, are held.
At the time of writing, a Change.org petition linked to the letter has reached 47,484 signatures.
“Children belong in schools and on playgrounds, not in detention centers.”
Signatories include people from across the entertainment industry such as actors, filmmakers, and musicians, alongside doctors, religious leaders, academics, activists, and lawyers who are publicly urging the center to be shut down.
Many who signed also left messages condemning ICE and describing feelings of anger and heartbreak over the allegations raised.
“No child should be locked in an immigration detention centre. We, the undersigned, call for the immediate closure of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) family detention centre in Texas and an end to the detention of children and families.
“Children held in immigration detention endure trauma, neglect and conditions that violate basic standards of health, safety, dignity and human rights.”
It continued: “We urge the federal government and CoreCivic to close the Dilley facility immediately, return children and families to the homes and communities they were taken from and to end child imprisonment now.
“Our commitment does not end with closure. We demand transparency, accountability, and systemic reforms to prevent these abuses from happening anywhere in the United States.”
So which well-known names appear among the signatories?
The list includes John Legend, Mark Ruffalo, America Ferrera, Elliot Paige, Jane Fonda, and Hannah Einbinder.
Other celebrities named include Kesha, Lena Dunham, Lance Bass, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brandi Carlisle, Wunmi Mosaku, Glennon Doyle, Hasan Minhaj, Katie Couric, and Pedro Pascal.
The petition also outlines alleged conditions for children held in ICE detention centers, citing court filings that claim there have been “refusals to provide clean water, rotten food contaminated with worms, dangerous medical neglect, sleep deprivation, denial of legal counsel, the separation of children from their families, and retaliation against families protesting the inhumane conditions”.
NBC News has reported that “more than 2,300 children” have been held at the center with their parents for weeks, and in some cases months.
The Department of Homeland Security has been contacted for comment.