Reading To Stop Family Detainment

A few feet away from the metal fencing surrounding the South Texas Family Residential Center (which is commonly referred to as Dilley ICE Detention Center) are several stuffed teddy bears and books. Everything one would need for a children’s story time. Only this story time is symbolic, and a call to action for the children just a few yards away being held in the Texas detention center.

On Thursday, April 2, a group of national leaders and organizations arrived at Dilley Detention Center for an event they are calling “Read Them Home: End Family Detention.” Organized by a coalition of groups including the 10 Steps Campaign, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, SEIU, and the National Domestic Workers Alliance, this campaign is raising awareness about the families and children held in places like Dilley, while also advocating for the full end of family detention at Dilley and beyond.

It was a strategic launch day, timed with International Children’s Book Day. In addition to holding their vigil just outside Dilley Detention Center, there is a virtual reading challenge that will go on for thirty days. Some of the authors that took part in the virtual event on Thursday included Glennon Doyle, Ilana Glazer, and Greg Foley.

The delegation in Dilley, which held their vigil as close as possible to the detention center, included 10 Steps founder Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia state representative and best-selling author. The PBS resident librarian, and the current host of their program Reading Rainbow Mychal “The Libarian” Threets was also at Dilley with community and labor leaders.

The Texas Signal spoke with Rosa Lozano, the Director of Immigration Campaigns, for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, who was on the ground in Dilley as well with her organization. Lozano described arriving at the detention center and seeing the barren landscape as “heavy.” Dilley Detention Center is operated by the private prison group Core Civic and is located next to a state prison (Dolph Briscoe Unit).

While the number of detainees has dropped at Dilley since the start of the year, there are still over a hundred people in the facility. In February, ProPublica spoke with some of the children inside Dilley. Many of them began to cry; they also spoke of finding worms or mold in their food. They had limited schooling opportunities.

For Lozano, there’s an outer symbolism to the vigil that took place outside Dilley with authors, teachers, and other community leaders reading books, which she notes is often a common pastime for children, unless they are detained in a place like Dilley. “[It’s a] place that has stripped children and families of their humanity.”

While the vigil at Dilley ended, there is still the thirty-day “Read Them Home” challenge that continues. Organizers are using social media to invite anyone to submit video or photos of themselves reading to elevate the campaign. Lozano also says that many of the organizers of the challenge will be calling on lawmakers to end family detention, and to hold more activities for a broader audience.

As for the children held within Dilley, who might still feel a world away from a reading circle, Lozano hopes they know they have a “whole community across the country fighting for them.” As a parent, Lozano knows the feeling of seeing a child distressed. “I hope they feel they are not alone.”