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A two-year-old migrant boy named Kaleth was released this Thursday from the Family Detention Center in South Texas, in Dilley, along with his mother Joani, after 12 days in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to Democratic Congressman Joaquín Castro, representative from Texas, the minor exhibited fever, vomiting, and refused to eat solid food for approximately 12 days of detention at the center, operated by the private company CoreCivic under contract with ICE.
The staff at the center attributed Kaleth's health issues to "psychological" causes and denied adequate medical care despite repeated requests from his mother.
Castro also reported that the food provided at the center contained mold and worms, which further exacerbated the child's situation.
"A vulnerable child in the Dilley mobile prison was suffering, and ICE denied his reality and needs," the lawmaker wrote on X.
Castro, who led the public pressure since March 31, stated that mother and son qualify for asylum and that they were unjustly detained.
The lawyer Elora Mukherjee intervened to expedite the release, arguing that the family's immigration process was valid.
After leaving the center, Kaleth was transferred to a hospital on the west coast of the United States for specialized medical care.
The case is part of a pattern of recurring complaints against the Dilley center, which houses an average of 170 minors per day.
A joint report by Human Rights First and RAICES, published on April 1, documented structural abuses at the facility: inadequate medical care, spoiled food, unsanitary conditions, and detentions exceeding the 20-day limit established by the Flores Agreement, including the case of an Egyptian family held for more than nine months.
Before the Kaleth case, the center had already been involved in another high-profile incident: the five-year-old Ecuadorian boy Liam Conejo Ramos was detained along with his father in Minnesota and taken to Dilley, until a federal judge ordered his release on February 1 of 2026.
Congressman Castro himself personally accompanied that release and described the child as someone who was "in much better condition."
Also during that period, a Colombian mother, María Alejandra Montoya, and her nine-year-old daughter completed 128 days of detention at the center, describing conditions as "inhumane" with cells like "boxes with windows."
The Department of Homeland Security and CoreCivic deny the allegations and assert that the center provides medical care 24 hours a day and meets all federal standards.
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