“We were in a crisis,” Yaniuska López Contreras said, recalling her daughter María’s despair while detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. “There were many days where she would just collapse and would start crying: ‘Mom, I don’t want to be here anymore.’ ”
The plea from María, a second-grader with aspirations of becoming a marine biologist, underscores growing concerns about conditions at the facility, which reopened in March 2025 after the Biden administration briefly halted family detention. The Trump administration resumed the practice last year, leading to a surge in families held at Dilley, and renewed scrutiny of the center’s practices.
Corey Martin, a Massachusetts attorney, has been at the forefront of efforts to assist families detained at Dilley. Martin, a graduate of Boston College Law School, initially focused on immigration cases involving Temporary Protected Status and asylum seekers. Her involvement deepened earlier this year after learning about the case of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was detained by ICE in Minnesota and sent to Dilley.
“Anytime I’ve been to Dilley, I do not hear children laughing and playing,” Martin said. “The default is treating them like they’re inmates.”
Martin’s operate has involved providing legal support to families like that of Juan Nicolás, a baby who was two months old when she first met him, along with his 16-month-old sister and their parents. The cases of María and Juan Nicolás were initially reported by Lidia Terrazas, a reporter for N+ Univision.
The conditions at Dilley have faced increasing criticism in recent months, with testimonies emerging alleging inadequate food, healthcare, and legal access. In February, Juan Nicolás was rushed to Frio Regional Hospital with respiratory issues. His mother, Mireya López Sánchez, said that her breast milk dried up while in detention, and the provided formula made her son ill. Martin was denied access to the family’s hospital room, despite López Sánchez requesting officials allow her and an attorney to visit.
Juan Nicolás was diagnosed with acute bronchitis, according to his family, and Martin. However, when the family was scheduled to return to Dilley, ICE deported them to Mexico, dropping them off in a town four hours from the border with only $190. Martin and Terrazas subsequently met the family across the border.
Homeland Security, in a statement released last month, asserted that Juan Nicolás was in “stable condition and medically cleared for removal” at the time of deportation. The department stated that the family had unlawfully crossed the border near Eagle Pass in January and that the mother’s asylum claims were deemed invalid by a judge, resulting in a final removal order.
López Sánchez countered that the family was fleeing threats and violence in Mexico and is now in Guatemala.
Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas, who recently visited Dilley with a delegation of lawmakers, has been following both families’ cases. “To unnecessarily deport a sick baby and his entire family is heinous,” Castro posted on X in February. He also highlighted María’s improved state after her release, noting she “was in a terrible mental state” while detained and that Martin was instrumental in securing her freedom before her eighth birthday.
María and her mother were released on the day before her birthday and celebrated with a cake at their home in Austin, with Martin in attendance. Martin has since returned to Massachusetts, balancing her full-time job with continued efforts to assist families at Dilley. DHS did not respond to questions about the family’s case.
