Since the Trump administration began implementing its immigration crackdown last year, one of the main concerns raised by human rights advocates and watchdog groups has centered on the conditions detainees face inside immigration detention facilities.
Among the centers that have drawn repeated allegations of abuse and inhumane treatment is the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where hundreds of children are held with their parents while awaiting removal and where advocates and pediatric experts have warned that the facility is not safe for young children.
A recent investigation by NBC News obtained 911 call logs placed by staff at Dilley, adding to concerns about what detainees have experienced inside the center.
According to the report, emergency responders have been called to the facility at least 11 times since mid-September to treat children suffering medical emergencies. In those calls, staff requested ambulances for children who were struggling to breathe, running high fevers or appearing unresponsive.
"We have a child that is possibly having an allergic reaction. Male, little boy." "It's a 13-year-old. Possible leg fracture." "He's desatting. ... His oxygen level is 80." "Five to 7 years old ... three seizures today," are among the recordings obtained by NBC News, underscoring the severity of incidents reported at the facility.
The investigation found that most of the children were transported to a nearby community hospital and in at least three instances, children were taken more than an hour away to a specialized pediatric hospital in San Antonio equipped to handle complex or life-threatening conditions.
The report noted that the available records do not detail what happened after the ambulance transports.
Dr. Lara Jones, a pediatric critical care physician in California, told NBC News the emergency calls point to "potential missed opportunities" for staff to intervene earlier and prevent hospitalizations. She added that detaining children in what she described as a prisonlike environment can itself trigger medical complications.
"There is absolutely, unequivocally no appropriate way to detain a child, period," Jones said, citing research linking detention to serious health consequences. "It is causing physical, mental, measurable, studied harm. And there is no context in which that's justified."
A spokesperson for CoreCivic, the company that operates Dilley under a federal contract, told NBC News that no child at the facility "has been denied medical treatment or experienced a delayed medical assessment." The spokesperson added that staff are trained to respond when a child's condition "exceeds what can be managed on-site."
The outlet also reported that Jones and a coalition of physicians sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and members of Congress urging the administration to release every child held at Dilley.
"Immigration violations are civil, administrative matters. Yet children are being confined in detention environments that would be unfit for even violent criminals," the letter read.
More than 1,400 people are currently being held at Dilley, including about 400 children, according to families and attorneys cited by Noticias Telemundo. They continue to allege inadequate medical care, poor-quality food and water, and overcrowding, despite recent statements from DHS asserting that detainees receive "the best healthcare many aliens have received in their entire lives."
The center, reopened during the current administration after several years closed, drew national attention last month after 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was brought there following his father's arrest in Minneapolis, before being eventually returned to Minneapolis after a federal judge ordered their release pending their asylum case.
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