Hollywood Stars Demand Closure of Notorious ICE Detention Center in Texas

The open letter, signed by a growing list of Hollywood stars, physicians, policy experts, and organizations, demands the "immediate closure" of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.

Hundreds of young children, teenagers, and their parents have been held at the remote facility, which has drawn mounting scrutiny over reports of its dehumanizing conditions.

The petition, available on Change.org, seeks for the federal government and private prison operator CoreCivic to "return children and families to the homes and communities they were taken from and to end child imprisonment now."

Among the Hollywood stars who have signed the letter are Madonna, Pedro Pascal, John Legend, Gracie Abrams, Jane Fonda, Keke Palmer, Lance Bass, Cynthia Nixon, Diego Luna, Maren Morris, Mark Ruffalo, America Ferrera, Ben Stiller, Ramy Youssef, and Riley Keough.

The petition has garnered over 12,700 signatures as of press time.

The celebrities are backing the efforts of popular children’s educator Ms. Rachel, who met with detained children on video chat and used her platform to call for the closure of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement family detention center.

The open letter denounces that children held in detention endure trauma, neglect, and conditions that violate basic standards of health, safety, dignity, and human rights.

Court filings of abuse against children have included 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.

"Children belong in schools and on playgrounds, not in detention centers," the letter states.

The center was opened by the Obama administration in 2014, and then closed by the Biden administration in 2024.

Last spring, Trump’s White House reopened the facility as part of a $45 billion immigration detention expansion.

Since the start of the second Trump administration, the number of children in ICE detention on a given day has skyrocketed, jumping more than sixfold.

Additional signees of the letter include Katie Couric, Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem, Brittney Griner, Elliot Page, Brandi Carlile, Diego Luna, Elizabeth Banks, Eva Longoria, Illana Glazer, John Cusack, Natasha Lyonne, Josh Dela Cruz, Lena Dunham, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Muna, and Sara Barielles.

This broad coalition of personalities underscores the widespread concern about the conditions in the detention center and the need to protect the rights of immigrant children.