Original Date Announced

CBS News and The Washington Post report that ICE will resume detaining families with children at detention facilities in Karnes City, TX, and Dilley, TX. An internal government report obtained by CBS indicates that "the first group of migrant parents and children" were currently being held by ICE "in a detention facility in Texas designed to hold families with minors." Additionally, CoreCivic, a private prison company responsible for managing many ICE detention centers, announced the resumption of family detention at Dilley.

Family detention was discontinued under the Biden administration, and the facilities were used exclusively for adult immigration detention over the last four years. See this entry for information on the Trump administration's efforts to terminate the Flores settlement.

Trump 2.0 [ID #1592]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.03.13 Reported: Kids languish in ICE detention long past 20-day court limit - NBC

NBC News reports that DHS is routinely violating the 1997 Flores v. Meese settlement agreement, which capped immigration detention of children at 20 days and set other minimum standards. As of January 2026, DHS had confined more than 900 children in family detention centers for longer than 20 days; about 270 were confined for more than 40 days. Immigration lawyers report that some families are released within days, while others have been detained for more than nine months with little explanation.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.03.14 Reported: Trump officials set to expand migrant family detention at Louisiana airport - The Guardian

The Guardian reports that DHS plans to convert a military barracks building at the airport in Alexandria, Louisiana—a major hub for deportation and transfer flights—to confine families and children for between three and five days while they await deportation. The detention center is expected to be operational within 60 to 90 days and will reportedly house only people who are “self-deporting.”

The center is located across the tarmac from an adult detention center, run by private prison company GEO Group, that has been the subject of investigation for neglect, abuse, and due process violations. An airport official described the new center as a “humanitarian effort” that will have a “different feel and vibe" from the GEO Group detention center.