“And if you’re not working actively to close Dilley and address the systemic harm taking place in all these facilities, you are complicit in child abuse. Period.”

Pressley Has Led Efforts in Congress to Address Childhood Trauma, Championed Policies to Support Child Health, Education, Safety

Pressley Has Stood in Vigorous Defense of Immigrant Communities in MA 7^th and Nationwide, Fighting to Bring Detained Neighbors Home

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – During a House Oversight Committee Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses hearing, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) slammed Republicans for abusing and traumatizing children and families in detention centers—like the Dilley Detention Center—imprisoning them beyond lawful or humane time periods, denying them due process, and inflicting lasting trauma and health consequences. Rep. Pressley also demanded Republicans close the Dilley Detention Center immediately and address the systemic harm taking place in all detention facilities.

Congresswoman Pressley has led efforts in Congress to address childhood trauma, including holding the first Congressional hearing on childhood trauma on the Committee on Oversight and Reform with the late Chairman Elijah Cummings. Rep. Pressley has also been a leading voice in defending our immigrant neighbors in the Massachusetts 7^th and nationwide.

A transcript of Congresswoman Pressley’s question line during the hearing is available below and the video is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Slams Republicans for Inflicting Child Abuse & Trauma, Demands Closure of Inhumane Dilley Detention Facility

U.S. House of Representatives

June 9, 2026

REP. PRESSLEY: The Trump administration’s chaotic campaign of lawlessness and cruelty is traumatizing our children.

ICE is detaining people who have committed no crimes, people in our country with legal statuses, and even American citizens.

Teenagers, toddlers, babies have been abducted and taken to a detention center in Dilley, Texas, run by a multi-billion-dollar private prison corporation that profits from their pain.

That profits from the pain of child abuse, child neglect, and childhood trauma.

As a mother, I am heartbroken. And as an American, I am ashamed.

And this administration, over and over again, keeps making history for all the wrong reasons.

And on a daily basis, you have an emerging legacy, again, of the abuse, negligence, trauma, and even the death of our children.

This is state-inflicted trauma. And yes, I said our children—because anyone on this land, and certainly in our facilities, we are charged with their welfare and their well-being.

And as members of this Oversight Committee—hell, as people of conscience—every single person should be raising their voice and doing everything in their power to close the Dilley facility immediately.

Now, Mr. Krikorian, how many children have been locked in detention facilities since Trump took office in 2025?

MR. KRIKORIAN: I don’t have that number, but they were put there by their parents, not by the Trump administration.

REP. PRESSLEY: Reclaiming my time.

Did you just hear me just state for the record—and we have it documented, well documented—that these are people overwhelmingly that have been unlawfully detained, some of them even American citizens that are here with legal statuses?

So don’t try to deflect.

This is not about the parents, and as I said, they’re in our facilities that we fund, so you are charged with their welfare and their well-being.

So, let me move on and just give you the information, since you said you don’t know. I’ll help you out.

According to ICE data, roughly 4,000 children, 4,000 children under the age of 18, including 20 infants—and I’m not even naming the girls and the women that are pregnant, and the lack of prenatal care for unborn children—but that’s how many have been forced behind the wall by this cruel administration.

How many children have been held in detention for longer than the legal maximum amount of time?

MR. KRIKORIAN: I don’t know, but again, they’re there because of their parents—

REP. PRESSLEY: Reclaiming my time. Just for those watching at home, just so you know, the lawful maximum time is 20 days.

And we have over 1,300 children—children—who were locked in custody beyond that time. And anyway, 20 days is too long.

Mr. Krikorian, do you think that children should endure vomiting after eating, drink contaminated water, and wait days for medical attention while they are detained at Dilley? Yes or no?

MR. KRIKORIAN: It’s Mr. Krikorian. Excuse me, but—

REP. PRESSLEY: My apologies, names matter, Mr. Krikorian, yes—for the record,

MR. KRIKORIAN: The conditions in detention facilities are probably better in ICE facilities than in regular detention facilities.

REP. PRESSLEY: Mr. Krikorian, reclaiming my time. Please just answer my question, yes or no.

I don’t have time for you to filibuster. Just answer the question.

This is, this should be an easy answer. Do you think children should endure vomiting after eating, drinking contaminated water, and wait days, waiting for medical attention while they are detained at Dilley? Yes or no?

MR. KRIKORIAN: They’re detained because their parents—

REP. PRESSLEY: I’ll take that as a, as a yes, that you’re okay with that.

MR. KRIKORIAN: Their parents put them in the facilities—

REP. PRESSLEY: —that you want to be complicit in the abuse, negligence, and trauma of our children. Moving on.

Dozens of families and children, like Susej, a nine-year-old girl detained at Dilley, have reported the cruel and inhumane conditions of this facility. We have nine-year-olds having to advocate for themselves.

She said she loved going to school, playing with her friends, until and during the prison-like conditions of Dilly stole her sleep, stole her appetite, and stole her innocence in that cage that they call a family residential center.

She repeatedly woke up screaming from nightmares, begging to go home.

She left Dilly, changed forever—fearful, withdrawn, burdened with trauma that was never hers to carry.

That is the human cost of Republicans’ harmful policy choices.

And if you’re not working actively to close Dilley and address the systemic harm taking place in all these facilities, you are complicit in child abuse. Period.

And the evidence is clear. This administration is imprisoning thousands of children for weeks and months in unsafe conditions, denying them due process and inflicting lasting trauma.

This is a blatant violation of basic human rights and our constitutional values.

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