A 5-year-old girl detained in Dilley drew herself and her family trapped in a cage.Credit: Courtesy / Eric Lee
A 9-year-old girl detained in Dilley’s South Texas Family Residential Center says she wants to die, according to family attorney Eric Lee, who recently went viral when a protest erupted inside the facility as he tried to visit his clients.
“The 9-year-old has expressed that she wishes she was no longer alive,” Lee said in a Wednesday phone interview with the Current.
Lee said the mother conveyed her child’s alarming wish to him in a recent a phone call from within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility an hour southwest of San Antonio, which houses over 1,400 people, including hundreds of children.
Lee represents a family of five, consisting of the 9-year-old along with 5-year-old twin sisters, a 16-year old brother, an 18-year-old sister and her mother. All are Egyptian citizens, and all have had birthdays inside the facility. The minors are not named in this article to protect their identities.
The family, which immigrated from Kuwait, has been detained in Dilley for eight months for what Lee calls “political retribution” from the Trump administration for the alleged crimes of the family’s patriarch, Mohamed Soliman. Soliman became a suspect in an anti-Semitic attack in Boulder, Colorado last June using Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower.
The attack left seven people injured. One 82-year-old woman died from injuries relating to the attack 24 days later. Soliman received 12 counts of federal hate crime and 118 state criminal charges.
When the attack occurred, Soliman had been estranged from the family for at least a year, living in his car over an hour away and working as an Uber driver, according to Lee. Soliman only saw his family once a week at most, the attorney added, saying they had no knowledge of his plans. The family has spoken out condemning the attack and the mother, Hayam El Gamal, is now seeking a divorce.
Over the months of detainment, their mental health has deteriorated, Lee said.
On a previous visit, the 9-year old daughter gave Lee a picture she drew inside Dilley. The drawing is of the Colorado house she hasn’t seen in the months she’s been in detention.
A 9-year-old child detained in Dilley for months drew this picture of her one-time home.Credit: Courtesy / Eric Lee
One of the five-year-old twins also gave Lee a drawing, which depicts her and her family in a cage. She told Lee that she had a dream that she was trying to run away from a wild animal.
“But she’s stuck in a cage and can’t get out,” Lee said.
The family’s younger kids also have begun skipping meals, “which they hadn’t been doing before,” Lee added.
People detained at the Dilley site have complained that the food inside sometimes is served with bugs, worms and mold. Lee described the water there as “putrid.”
The 16-year-old boy at one point suffered from appendicitis and was told to simply take a pain reliever before collapsing and being rushed to the hospital.
“He could have died,” Lee said.
But, if deported, the family could face certain death in Egypt, Lee claims, for cooperating with the FBI and speaking out against their patriarch.
The Detroit attorney says after months of detention, the Soliman family’s optimism began to rapidly decline in January.
“They really believed that the immigration judge was going to give them a fair hearing after he granted them bond in September,” Lee said. “And so they were hopeful, they were hopeful that they were going to be released through that process, and they weren’t.”
Meanwhile, even the older siblings have shown signs of worsening mental health, despite attempting to hold it together for their family, the attorney added.
“[T]he 16 year old, who’s been kind of, you know, rock solid, taking on the role of man of the house — his attitude has really begun to change,” Lee said. “And that goes for all of them.”
The oldest daughter, Habiba Soliman, was separated from her family once she turned 18 as punishment for talking to the press, Lee asserted. Separated from her family, she’s also been denied religious exemptions, he added.
“They’ve been calling me less in the last week or so, which I think is because they’re just sort of despondent and depressed,” Lee said of his clients. “That’s been the goal from the start, to ruin these children’s lives. And they didn’t do anything.”
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, who wrote the fiery opinion releasing 5-year-old Minneapolis boy Liam Conejo Ramos from the same facility, will consider the family’s third habeas case, but Lee doesn’t know when.
“It’s a deplorable situation. There’s really no silver lining,” Lee added.
ICE was desperate not to have another death in their concentration camps especailly a baby. This was a dilerberat attempt to kill the child. They left them stranded on the other side of the border. Think of it. They were lucky they were allowed to keep the money they had because I have read of ICE people taking the money before releasing the person. How can anyone support this? But maga wont know about this because right wing media won’t report on it and maga doesn’t go outside their media bubble. How can we live with this? How do the people who did this live with themselves? Do they have no humanity, no empathy? I am tearing up simply posting this, they did the act. A two month old child might well die do to the actions of the US government and the gang thugs they hire. Deep sadness. Hugs
Juan Nicolás had ended up in the hospital while in ICE detention. Now he’s in Mexico.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
ICE has deported 2-month-old Juan Nicolás with his mother and father to Mexico, despite the baby suffering from bronchitis while in ICE detention.
Nicolás’s mother spoke to Univision’s Lidia Terrezas by phone Tuesday, saying that they were left at the Mexican border with no phone and only the money they had in their commissary at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, an ICE facility where they were previously detained.
Terrezas said in an Instagram post that Nicolás is still sick and that his mother was only able to contact her because someone in the street let her use their phone.
“She is in distress, she’s panicking. They were sent to the same place they fled from,” Terrezas said.
In a follow-up post, Terrezas said that the family was able to pay for a hotel with their commissary money, adding that a GoFundMe is in the works to assist them. Texas Representative Joaquin Castro, who has been advocating for Nicolás and his family, said that he spoke with the family’s attorney and that they had just $190, in a post on X.
“To unnecessarily deport a sick baby and his entire family is heinous. My staff and I are in contact with Juan’s family. We are laser-focused on tracking them down, holding ICE accountable for this monstrous action, demanding specific details on their whereabouts and wellbeing, and ensuring their safety,” Castro said.
Nicolás had been vomiting and experiencing breathing issues while detained in an ICE facility known for unsanitary conditions, which also had a measles outbreak earlier this month. While the baby was sent to a hospital late Monday night, he was guarded by armed federal agents and released after only one day. His mother had to appear before an immigration judge the same day, where she was told they would be deported. Now Nicolás and his family have to fend for themselves.
Bigotry and racism pure and simple. It was once illegal in the US. But under Stephen Miller and tRump it is flourishing and supported. We must fight for acceptance and tolereance for those who are not white. So many gains since the 1960s are being erased illegally. Imagain being a kid, a preteen and having a bunch of masked men stop you and threaten you. Hey we keep being told that ICE is going after the worst of the worst to protect the public. Tell me what horrific crime could that child have done that would harm the public? According to ICE, he was not white and that is dangerous enough to the white racists who make up ICE and support them. Hugs
In the video below we learn that ICE is now disappearing people. Simply taking them and not documenting where they are taken or what happened to them. Families missing loved ones simply can’t find them in the ICE system anywhere. Hugs
I am reading / hearing clips of a lot of pushback, especially in sports media that ICE is not going after the worst of the worst and instead is going after only hardcore murderers, rapists, predators, or other violent criminals. These people reject any mention or idea that ICE is targeting people who came here legally or have asylum, or even that they are detaining children. They simply watch only their right wing media bubble which lies to them or they are paid / make their clicks supporting the right wing talking points. So I post this with the question what crime did this child do against others? Because we can see the crime being committed against him. There is a video at the link below. Hugs
Ramos’ mother addressed his deteriorating health earlier this week: “Liam is getting sick because the food they receive is not of good quality,” she told MPR News on Monday. “He has stomach pain, he’s vomiting, he has a fever and he no longer wants to eat.”
Liam Conejo Ramos, the pre-school student who ICE agents in Minneapolis nabbed last week and shipped off to a Texas detention facility with his dad, is in poor health now, according to his school’s superintendent.
Zena Stenvik, the superintendent for Ramos’ Columbia Heights public school district, told HuffPost that she spoke to the 5-year-old’s mother on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, Liam’s health is not doing great right now,” said Stenvik. “He’s been ill. I’ve been told he has a fever. So I’m very, very concerned about his well-being in that facility.”
His mother is also “incredibly distraught,” she said.
Ramos’ mother addressed his deteriorating health earlier this week: “Liam is getting sick because the food they receive is not of good quality,” she told MPR News on Monday. “He has stomach pain, he’s vomiting, he has a fever and he no longer wants to eat.”
Marc Prokosch, the family’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, are being held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. This is despite Arias entering the country legally and having no criminal record, according to Prokosch. Late Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked federal immigration officials from deporting Ramos and Arias, for now.
The conditions at the Texas facility where Ramos is being held are “absolutely abysmal,” according to attorney Eric Lee, who represents other families being held there.
“They mix baby formula with water that is putrid. The food has bugs in it. The guards are often verbally abusive,” Lee told Minnesota Public Radio on Monday. “One of my clients had appendicitis, collapsed in the hallway, was vomiting from pain, and the officials told him, ‘Take a Tylenol and come back in three days.’”
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was detained Jan. 20, 2026 in a suburb of Minneapolis.
Columbia Heights Public Schools
Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) visited the Texas ICE facility on Wednesday to meet with children and families being held there, including Ramos and his dad.
He posted a photo on social media after meeting with them. It shows Ramos either sleeping or lying weakly in his father’s arms, as Castro stands with them:
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) visits Liam Conejo Ramos and his father in a Texas detention center, a week after ICE agents detained them outside their home in Minneapolis.
Congressman Joaquin Castro
“Just visited with Liam and his father at Dilley detention center,” Castro wrote. “I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him.”
In a separate video, the Texas Democrat said he spent 30 minutes with Ramos and his dad. He said the 5-year-old “wasn’t in any kind of emergency or anything, physically,” but that he shared the photo of them together so people could see the state he’s in.
“His dad said he hasn’t been himself and he’s been sleeping a lot, because he’s been depressed and sad,” said Castro. “Liam actually was not awake during our visit.”
Well I had hoped to hear from Schumer but at least he is demanding the reforms be in writing. He is getting a lot of pressure to do something this time. But he wanted to end the last shut down with a loss because he was afraid the republicans would destroy the filibuster. He settled for a vote that meant nothing and was totally performative. Will he do the same here? Hugs
Well at least he can articulate the points that need to be made in a strong manner. I liked him better clean shaven. My view on a beard is either grow one big, bushy, and long or don’t grow it. Scruffy is a sad look I think and reminds me of teenagers getting their first facial hairs. I wonder what political job he will run for next. I think Senate, or governor. Hugs
A 5-year-old girl detained in Dilley drew herself and her family trapped in a cage.Credit: Courtesy / Eric Lee
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