DOJ now using Dilley detention center to hold hearings for non-detained families, raising concerns

In a first for the Trump administration in its ongoing immigration crackdown, some immigrant families who are not in detention are being scheduled to appear for their immigration hearings inside Texas’ controversial Dilley detention center — raising concerns among immigration advocates that people could be scared away from attending their hearings out of fear of being detained.

According to advocates and attorneys, non-detained families began receiving notices last week for in-person court hearings inside Dilley’s South Texas Family Residential Center.

Standard procedure, according to immigration attorneys, has been for families who received court appearance notices to appear at their local immigration court. While some detention facilities house immigration courts, they typically only hear cases for detained individuals.

“We really did not think that it was real,” said Kristin Etter, the Director of Policy and Legal Services at the Texas Immigration Law Council. “We’ve never heard of a detained docket, like Dilley, a detention center, having non-detained court appearances.”

Congressional Democrats have accused the Dilley facility of having “horrendous conditions,” with food that is allegedly “contaminated with worms and mold,” drinking water that leaves detainees feeling sick, lights that stay on through the night and inadequate medical care that has led to “severe depression, hopelessness and suicidal ideation amongst their children.”

Advocates told ABC News the move could make immigrant families ever more fearful of appearing for their hearings.

Casey Revkin, the co-founder of Each Step Home, a group that raises funds for detained families, told ABC News that one immigrant mother who received a notice was “filled with fear and anxiety when she saw the location.”

“She was horrified,” Revkin said. “She is so scared that after her hearing she and her children will be immediately detained. She is also worried about getting to court. Dilley is over an hour’s drive from San Antonio and she doesn’t have a car.”

“Dilley is a very odd choice because it’s not just a remote location, it has become synonymous with family immigration detention, isolation,” Etter said. “It’s the only place in the country that detains children and families, and so there’s absolutely just like a symbolism of it and the message that it’s sending to people.”

The Department of Homeland Security has previously denied any allegations of poor conditions and the lack of access to medical care at Dilley.

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the DOJ said that the agency overseeing immigration courts conducts hearings “in a variety of locations throughout the country,” including “DHS detention facilities.”

“There is nothing novel about EOIR maximizing available space options to ensure aliens receive their day in court in a timely manner,” the spokesperson said.

In a notice obtained by ABC News, the agency that oversees immigration courts warns people that they could be ordered removed from the U.S. if they fail to appear at a hearing, if DHS proves that a notice of the hearing was delivered.