SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A new billboard advertisement has recently popped up on San Antonio’s far west side. The billboard, sponsored by the Trump-hating Save America Movement, carries a grim message that reads, “One Nation. Under God. Locking Up Children.” Plain white script is printed over an image of a concrete wall topped with concertina wire. The billboard prominently displays the location of ICE’s Dilley Detention Center.
The billboard first appeared in late September and is the latest campaign launched by activists and Democratic politicians against the facility that is designed to hold family units and children awaiting deportation. The Save America Movement (SAM), co-founded by former Republican strategist and Lincoln Project founder Steve Schmidt, funded the billboard critical of the ICE facility. The actions appear to be part of the group’s “Operation Liberty: Protecting Communities” campaign.
The facility, operated under an ICE federal contract by CoreCivic, was closed in June 2024 and reopened in 2025 by the Trump administration. On its website, CoreCivic provides a video tour of the facility that describes the amenities available to detainees held there as they await removal hearings. The facility includes a cafeteria serving 7,000 meals per day, a 24-hour walk-in medical clinic, a children’s gymnasium, and multiple playgrounds. The facility includes 32 fully stocked classrooms for school-aged detainees to receive required academic instruction.
Other resources include five courtrooms, multiple game rooms for children, and an age-appropriate library with books. For adult detainees, the library offers legal reference materials to assist with their immigration proceedings.
The Save America Movement leads another anti-ICE detention center program it refers to as “Damning the Detention Centers” on its political action website. Under that program, the group has created a “rapid-response network” designed to expose proposed ICE detention facilities and coordinate opposition before construction starts.
The organization describes its methodology for the program that reads, “By monitoring public records, government contracts, and corporate partnerships, we provide communities with the information they need to understand what is being planned in their neighborhoods. We work alongside local organizers, faith leaders, and elected officials to bring transparency to the process and ensure residents have a voice in decisions that affect their communities.”
ICE’s Dilley Immigration Processing Center, some 70 miles southwest of San Antonio, has been the site of routine protests and visits from Democratic members of Congress who have called for the complete closure of the only family-residential ICE detention facility in the United States.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, in May, a delegation of Democratic politicians, led by Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX), visited the facility to protest the detention of two children and their stepmother. The Venezuelan family of three was arrested by ICE weeks earlier in San Antonio, resulting in their detention at the facility.
After the visit, Democratic Representative Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) likened the facility, initially opened in 2014 during the Obama administration, to a “baby jail”. In a social media post on X, formerly Twitter, Garcia wrote, “We need to shut Dilley down NOW. This is a baby jail where women and children are suffering and being denied medical care and respect. We must end family detention.”
Department of Homeland Security officials have countered the allegations concerning conditions at the facility in numerous public statements. Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis rejected the criticism of detention conditions at the facility in a February statement saying, “The media and sanctuary politicians have repeated false claims about the ICE Dilley facility, including that children are denied medical care and don’t have educational resources. The truth is this facility provided proper medical care for all detainees, including access to a pediatrician. Children have access to teachers’ classrooms, books, and toys.”
Bis went on to suggest detainees at the facility have options to avoid detention at the facility, adding, “The fact is, being in detention is a choice. We encourage all parents to take control of their departure by using the CBP Home app and receiving a free flight home and $2,600.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before retiring, he served as Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
