Ms. Rachel Says ‘I Am Political’ as She Fights to Close ICE Facility in Texas That’s Detaining Children: ‘It’s Political to Believe Every Child Is Equal’
Ms. Rachel’s push to shut down the Dilley family detention site spotlights a bigger, less-covered shift: the Trump administration’s renewed reliance on large-scale detention of children alongside parents in Texas.
Mar 23, 2026
Sources
Summary
Children’s entertainer Rachel Accurso (Ms. Rachel) says she is working with lawyers and activists to close the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas after speaking with children detained there with their parents. The story is framed through celebrity advocacy and culture-war backlash, while key operational and legal context about why Dilley is being used and what rules constrain child detention is only lightly explained. It matters because Dilley has become a central node in family detention, raising concrete questions about conditions, oversight, and compliance with court rules meant to limit how long children can be held.
Reality Check
The core public-interest story is not Ms. Rachel’s celebrity, but the policy choice to use a large family detention center as a primary holding site for children and parents—and whether conditions and detention lengths comply with court rules and independent monitoring. (nbcnews.com)
Detail
Rachel Accurso told NBC News she is advocating to close the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Dilley, Texas, where ICE is detaining children with their parents. (nbcnews.com)
Accurso said she learned about Dilley after federal agents detained the father of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos in Minneapolis and transferred them to Dilley. (nbcnews.com)
NBC News reported complaints from children at Dilley including limited education, lights that never turn off, and moldy food, and said court-appointed monitors’ figures show more than 2,300 children have been detained with their parents, mostly at Dilley, with many held weeks or months. (nbcnews.com)
Accurso held video calls with detained children including 9-year-old Deiver Henao Jimenez in early March and previously a 5-year-old named Gael, describing the experience as like speaking to a child “in jail.” (nbcnews.com)
Reporting around Dilley indicates the facility is operated under contract by the private prison company CoreCivic and is built to hold up to about 2,400 people. (tpr.org)
Other recent reporting has raised questions about children being held at Dilley beyond time limits required by federal court rules. (nbcwashington.com)
The Variety write-up also emphasizes prior backlash Accurso faced for speaking about children in Gaza, including threats and criticism that a children’s entertainer should not be ‘political.’ (variety.com)