WHAT A DILLEY: OUTSOURCING JUSTICE, ONE CHILD AT A TIME
How America turned human suffering into a line item on a balance sheet — and why your retirement account might be funding it.
Welcome to Dilley, Texas — Population: Despair
Seventy miles southwest of San Antonio, on a sun-scorched patch of former oilfield worker housing, sits the South Texas Family Residential Center — better known simply as Dilley. It is the largest immigration family detention facility in the United States, capable of holding up to 2,400 people, the overwhelming majority of them mothers and children fleeing violence, poverty, and persecution.
And right now, in the summer of 2026, it is a national disgrace hiding in plain sight.
Nearly 600 immigrant children were held at Dilley in recent months without adequate food, medical care, or mental health services — their time inside stretching well beyond court-mandated limits. Virus outbreaks swept through the facility in December and January. Prolonged lockdowns kept families confined. A 13-year-old girl attempted suicide after staff withheld her prescribed antidepressants and denied her request to be with her mother.
Infants and toddlers are experiencing alarming weight loss. Families report being denied access to clean drinking water — forced to drink tap water that smells foul and causes stomach illness. Children are denied crayons. Crayons. In some cases, they are not even allowed outside to play.
And the food? Reports describe meals so inadequate and so revolting — including instances of food contaminated with worms — that even the most hardened observer would struggle to call it humane.
So why, in the name of everything decent, is Dilley still open?
The answer, as it so often is in America, comes down to money.
The Business of Bars: How Private Prisons Work
Here is the core obscenity of the private prison model, stated plainly: a corporation makes more money the longer it keeps a human being locked up.
That's not a conspiracy theory. That's a business model.
The U.S. private detention industry operates on a per-diem revenue structure — companies are paid a fixed rate for every detainee, every single day. Many contracts include minimum-occupancy guarantees, meaning the government pays for empty beds whether they're filled or not. The incentive to keep beds full, to lobby for stricter enforcement, to cut costs on food and medical care — it's not a bug in the system. It's a feature.
The two dominant players in this industry are:
| Corporation | Stock Ticker | Headquarters | Key Facilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoreCivic | NYSE: CXW | Brentwood, TN | Dilley, TX; Stewart, GA; Otay Mesa, CA |
| The GEO Group | NYSE: GEO | Boca Raton, FL | Adelanto, CA; Tacoma, WA; Pearsall, TX |
| LaSalle Corrections | Private | Ruston, LA | Louisiana, Texas, Georgia regional centers |
| Management & Training Corp. | Private | Centerville, UT | Otero County, NM; Imperial, CA |
Together, CoreCivic and GEO Group control approximately 80–90% of all U.S. immigration detention capacity. The private prison and detention market generates billions of dollars annually in federal contract revenue — revenue that flows directly from ICE's budget, which flows from your tax dollars.
You Probably Own a Piece of This
Here's the part that makes people uncomfortable at dinner parties: if you have a 401(k), an IRA, or any index fund tied to the S&P SmallCap 600 or the Russell 2000, there is a reasonable chance you own shares in CoreCivic or The GEO Group.
Because these companies are publicly traded and included in broad market indexes, the world's largest passive fund managers — BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street — are required by design to hold their shares. It's not a choice; it's how index investing works.
Beyond passive funds, hedge funds and active value investors hold concentrated positions in these companies, betting that federal enforcement budgets will keep growing and contracts will keep flowing. Following public pressure campaigns between 2019 and 2021, major commercial banks — JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citigroup — announced they would stop directly financing private prison operators. But the industry simply pivoted to private credit markets and high-yield bond issuances, replacing bank loans with less regulated, less transparent capital sources.
The money never stopped flowing. It just changed hands.
A Brief, Infuriating History
The private prison industry didn't spring fully formed from the head of some Ayn Rand fever dream. It has a history — and understanding it explains why it's so hard to kill.
1983: Corrections Corporation of America (now CoreCivic) opens the first private prison in the U.S., in Hamilton County, Tennessee. The pitch: government efficiency, private sector innovation, lower costs.
1990s–2000s: The "tough on crime" era explodes the U.S. prison population. Private companies scale rapidly, signing contracts with states desperate for bed space. The industry lobbies aggressively for mandatory minimum sentencing laws, three-strikes policies, and the War on Drugs — all of which keep their facilities full.
2014: The Obama administration, facing a surge of Central American families at the border, opens Dilley as a "deterrence" facility. The logic: if asylum seekers know they'll be detained, fewer will come. Spoiler: it didn't work, and it created a human rights catastrophe.
2021: President Biden signs Executive Order 14006, directing the Department of Justice to phase out private federal prison contracts. Civil rights advocates cheer. Then they read the fine print: ICE facilities were explicitly excluded. The private immigration detention industry was untouched.
2025–2026: ICE awards CoreCivic a new multi-year contract to reopen Dilley. The facility is back at capacity. The outcry begins again.
The Children Paying the Price
Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action in May 2026 calling for the immediate shutdown of Dilley, describing conditions that amount to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law.
The documented abuses include:
- Families held for months in violation of the Flores Settlement Agreement's 20-day limit for children in secure facilities
- Denial of medical care for chronic conditions and emergencies
- Alarming weight loss in infants and children
- Foul-smelling tap water causing stomach illness
- Family separation used as a coercive tool — including a breastfeeding mother separated from her U.S. citizen baby for over 100 days
- A teenager pressured to abandon her asylum claim under threat of separation upon turning 18
- A 5-year-old boy in a blue bunny hat, Liam Conejo Ramos, picked up in Minnesota by ICE agents and sent to Dilley — his case sparking protests both inside and outside the facility's chain-link fences
The Trump administration's response to these documented abuses? A legal push to end court oversight of detention facilities entirely, arguing conditions are adequate. Advocates have a different word for Dilley. They call it a "hellhole."
LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens) has been amplifying reports of poor conditions and inadequate medical access, noting that despite the Flores Settlement's protections, families continue to report months spent behind fences with no meaningful legal recourse.
The Legal Maze: Why Courts Haven't Saved the Day
You might wonder: if there's a court order — the Flores Settlement — that limits how long children can be detained, why are children still being held for months?
Because the gap between what the law says and what actually happens is where private prison profits live.
The Flores Settlement (1997) requires:
- Children held in the least restrictive setting possible
- Facilities must be licensed by state child welfare agencies
- Children must be released without unnecessary delay
Dilley has never obtained a valid Texas child-welfare license — Texas courts have blocked every attempt, ruling that a prison-like facility doesn't qualify as a child-care facility. This means ICE is legally prohibited from holding children there beyond 20 days. And yet, here we are, with children held for months.
The constitutional arguments against private detention are powerful:
- The Due Process problem: Private guards make decisions — disciplinary write-ups, solitary confinement recommendations, "good time" credits — that directly affect liberty, while their employer profits from longer stays. The Supreme Court's logic in Carter v. Carter Coal Co. (1936) called delegating such authority to financially self-interested private parties "legislative delegation in its most obnoxious form."
- The Neutral Arbiter problem: Under Tumey v. Ohio (1927), anyone facing deprivation of liberty is entitled to a decision-maker with no financial stake in the outcome. Private prison staff have the opposite.
- The Bivens Gap: In Minneci v. Pollard (2012), the Supreme Court ruled that federal detainees in private facilities cannot bring constitutional suits directly against private guards — a protection available to those in government-run facilities. Your rights, in other words, depend on whether the government outsourced your bed.
States have tried to fight back. California and Washington passed laws banning private detention facilities. Federal courts struck them down under preemption doctrines, ruling that Congress gave the Department of Homeland Security the authority to contract with private vendors — and states can't override that. The industry's legal fortress holds.
What You Can Actually Do Right Now
Teddy Roosevelt said it best: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Here's what you have:
š Make the Call
- White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111
- U.S. Capitol Switchboard (connects to any Senator or Representative): (202) 224-3121
- Department of Homeland Security: (202) 282-8495
- ICE Public Affairs: (202) 732-4242
✉️ Write the Letter
Contact your U.S. Senator and Representative and demand:
- Full congressional oversight hearings on conditions at Dilley
- Enforcement of the Flores Settlement Agreement
- An end to minimum-occupancy guarantees in private detention contracts
- A path toward closing Dilley and transitioning to community-based alternatives to detention
Find your representatives at congress.gov/members
Vote With Purpose
In every election — federal, state, and local — research candidates' positions on private detention. Sheriffs, county commissioners, and state legislators all play roles in the Intergovernmental Service Agreements that keep these facilities running. The private prison industry spends millions lobbying and making campaign contributions precisely because elections matter to their bottom line.
Check Your Portfolio
Contact your 401(k) plan administrator and ask whether your funds hold shares in CoreCivic (CXW) or The GEO Group (GEO). ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) fund options are increasingly available in employer retirement plans and explicitly screen out private prison holdings.
Support the Organizations on the Ground
- ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project: aclu.org
- Amnesty International USA: amnestyusa.org
- Texas RioGrande Legal Aid: trla.org
- National Center for Youth Law: youthlaw.org
- RAICES: raicestexas.org
The Bottom Line
The story of Dilley is not complicated, even if the legal architecture surrounding it is deliberately labyrinthine. A private corporation is paid by the federal government to hold human beings — including infants, toddlers, and traumatized children — in conditions that Amnesty International describes as cruel and inhumane. That corporation's shareholders include some of the largest financial institutions on earth. The political will to close the facility is blocked by lobbying dollars, preemption doctrines, and the quiet comfort of people who have never had to drink foul-smelling water from a detention center tap.
The name "Dilley" has become shorthand for everything broken about America's approach to immigration enforcement. A 5-year-old in a blue bunny hat shouldn't be a symbol of national policy. A 13-year-old shouldn't attempt suicide in a for-profit facility because her antidepressants were withheld. And no child, anywhere, should be served food with worms in it while a corporation collects a per-diem check from the U.S. Treasury.
The phone numbers are above. The ballot box comes in November. The children are waiting.
Sources: AP News (March 2026) | Amnesty International Urgent Action AMR 51/1033/2026 (May 2026) | Los Angeles Times (March 2026) | LULAC National (February 2026)
Sources & Links: What a Dilley — Outsourcing Justice
š“ Dilley Detention Center — Conditions & Current News
1. AP News — "Detained immigrant children still face concerning conditions at Texas facility, lawyers say" (March 22, 2026) š https://apnews.com/article/detained-immigrant-children-dilley-texas-facility-1fb596b4327bb8ce126991b5d7a3e8c5
2. Los Angeles Times — "Young immigrants face concerning conditions at Texas site, lawyers say" (March 22, 2026) š https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-03-22/young-immigrants-face-concerning-conditions-at-texas-site-lawyers-say
3. Amnesty International — Urgent Action: "Shut Down Migrant Family Detention Center" — AMR 51/1033/2026 (May 21, 2026) š https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2026/06/AMR5110332026ENGLISH.pdf
4. LULAC National — "Reports of Poor Conditions and Inadequate Medical Care at Dilley" (February 2026) š https://www.facebook.com/lulac.national.dc/posts/in-the-dilley-detention-center-in-texas-reports-of-poor-conditions-and-inadequate/1322506646577884/
š¼ Private Prison Industry — Investors, Finance & Profits
5. Brennan Center for Justice — "Private Prison Companies' Enormous Windfall" — Analysis of CoreCivic & GEO Group contract expansions š https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/private-prison-companies-enormous-windfall-who-stands-gain-ice-expands
6. Kennedy Human Rights — "Quarterly Investor Risk Briefs for Private Prison Companies: GEO Group and CoreCivic" š https://kennedyhumanrights.org/report/quarterly-investor-risk-briefs-for-private-prison-companies-geo-group-and-corecivic/
7. The Appeal — "Private Prison Companies Want ICE to Detain More — Investors Frustrated Numbers Aren't High Enough" š https://theappeal.org/ice-geo-group-corecivic-profits/
8. Scripps News / Facebook — "GEO Group's Q3 Revenues Up 13%, Fueled by ICE Contracts" (2025) š https://www.facebook.com/scrippsnews/videos/two-of-the-nations-biggest-operators-of-private-immigrant-detention-centers-are-/817453164405320/
⚖️ Legal Framework — Flores Settlement & Constitutional Law
9. ACLU — Flores v. Reno Settlement Agreement Overview & Ongoing Enforcement š https://www.aclu.org/cases/flores-v-reno
10. National Center for Youth Law — Flores Settlement Monitoring & Dilley Compliance Reports š https://youthlaw.org/cases/flores-v-garland
11. U.S. District Court (C.D. Cal.) — Jenny L. Flores v. Garland — Active Consent Decree Docket š https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4443/jenny-l-flores-v-garland/
12. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — GEO Group, Inc. v. Newsom (2022) — California Private Detention Ban Ruling š https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/10/05/21-55221.pdf
š️ Policy & Government Sources
13. White House — Executive Order 14006: "Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities" (January 26, 2021) š https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/executive-order-reforming-our-incarceration-system-to-eliminate-the-use-of-privately-operated-criminal-detention-facilities/
14. ICE — Detention Management: Facility List & Standards š https://www.ice.gov/detain/detention-management
15. DHS Office of Inspector General — Reports on ICE Detention Facility Conditions š https://www.oig.dhs.gov/reports/immigration
š£ Advocacy & Action Organizations
16. ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project š https://www.aclu.org/immigrants-rights
17. Amnesty International USA — Immigration Detention Campaign š https://www.amnestyusa.org/issues/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-migrants/
18. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid — Dilley Pro Bono Project š https://www.trla.org
19. RAICES — Reuniting Families & Fighting Detention š https://www.raicestexas.org
20. National Center for Youth Law š https://youthlaw.org
š Contact Your Representatives — Direct Lines
| Office | Phone Number |
|---|---|
| White House Comment Line | (202) 456-1111 |
| U.S. Capitol Switchboard (Senate & House) | (202) 224-3121 |
| Dept. of Homeland Security | (202) 282-8495 |
| ICE Public Affairs | (202) 732-4242 |
| DHS Secretary's Office | dhssecretary@hq.dhs.gov |
| Find Your Rep (Congress.gov) | https://www.congress.gov/members |
š️ CoreCivic & GEO Group — SEC & Financial Filings
21. CoreCivic (CXW) — SEC Investor Relations & Annual Reports š https://ir.corecivic.com
22. The GEO Group (GEO) — SEC Investor Relations & Annual Reports š https://investors.geogroup.com
All links verified as of July 2026. For the most current reporting, search AP News, ProPublica, The Marshall Project, and The Intercept using the keyword "Dilley detention 2026."
