Pedro Pascal, Mark Ruffalo and more demand closure of Texas ICE facility: ‘End child imprisonment’
WASHINGTON DC: Several A-list celebrities, including Pedro Pascal, Madonna, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo, America Ferrera, Elliot Page, and Jane Fonda, have joined hands to sign an open letter demanding the closure of an ICE detention centre in Texas.
Open letter by key celebs demand closure of ICE detention centre
The letter urges the federal government to shut down the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, used to detain children and their parents, who are considered undocumented immigrants.
Signed by prominent Hollywood celebrities, the letter opens by stating its purpose. “No child should be locked in an immigration detention center,” the first line reads.
In addition to the aforementioned Hollywood stars, public figures such as John Legend, Brandi Carlile, Hannah Einbinder, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Wunmi Mosaku, Billy Porter, Keke Palmer, Hasan Minhaj, Katie Couric, Susan Sarandon, and several others also signed the letter demanding the children to be set free.
Content creator speaks to children in detention
In a bid to advance the efforts to shut down the detention facility, the celebrities are collaborating with YouTube star Rachel Accurso aka Ms Rachel, a popular children's content creator.
She recently spoke to the detained children via video call and publicly called for the closure of the Dilley facility. The initiative garnered widespread attention towards the situation.
Rachel first learned about the detention facility after ICE officers detained 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos' father in Minneapolis and sent both the father and child to Dilley.
Following the incident, Rachel spoke to a few children at the facility, including 5-year-old named Gael and 9-year-old Deiver Henao Jimenez, who was detained with his parents in early March.
“It was unbelievably surreal to see this sweet little face and feel like I was on a call with somebody who’s in jail,” Rachel told NBC News.
“It broke me, and it was something I never thought I’d encounter in life… We’re trying to get a child out of a jail to do a spelling bee. I just never thought those words would go together,” she said.
According to the outlet, figures provided by court-appointed monitors reveal over “2,300 children” were placed into detention centres during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, “with the overwhelming majority held at Dilley.”
Letter by celebrities claims substandard facilities at Dilley
As per NBC News, reports suggest “Children have complained of limited education, lights that never turn off and moldy food” at the said detention centre in Texas.
Citing those issues, the letter, written by celebrities, says, “Children held in immigration 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,” it further reads.
“Children belong in schools and on playgrounds, not in detention centers,” the letter states.
“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,” the letter continued.
"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,” it concluded.
