DILLEY, Texas – Staff inside the family detention center in Dilley repeatedly called for emergency medical help for young children and pregnant women between October 2025 and February 2026, 911 recordings reviewed by KSAT and obtained by ABC News show.
“I’m calling for a little kid going through respiratory distress,” one caller said.
“How old is child?” the dispatcher asked.
“17 months,” the caller replied.
Listen to all the 911 calls made below:
Another caller said a pregnant woman was having seizure.
Of the 911 calls the stations reviewed, the children involved ranged in age from 2 months old to 13 years old. Most calls involved low oxygen levels and respiratory distress.
Less than two weeks ago, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro visited the Dilley facility for a second time and again expressed concern about medical care for detainees there.
“There has been medical care that has been denied and that in some ways these folks are treated like animals,” Castro said.
The top medical official at the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement to ABC News about medical care in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
“These allegations of illegal aliens being denied proper medical care in ICE custody are FALSE,” DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sean Conley told ABC News in a statement. “It is both policy and longstanding practice for aliens to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody.”
“This includes medical, dental, women’s health, mental health services, any needed follow up medical appointments, as well as 24-hour emergency care,” Conley continued. “This is better, more responsive healthcare than many aliens have ever received in their entire lives.”
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