Canadian Mother Detained With Autistic Child Says Families at ICE’s Dilley Center Are ‘Suffering Greatly’

In March, the case of Tania Warner, a Canadian mother who was detained in Texas with her 7-year-old autistic daughter, despite having legal documentation allowing them to be in the U.S., drew global outrage

Now, Warner is speaking out about her experience. 

She told the Guardian this week that detainees at Dilley are “suffering greatly” and have been held for months without due process. While she was in detention, she also released a statement that said the guards in one of the facilities were “sadistic, inhumane and abusive.” 

Warner and her daughter were taken into custody in mid-March while driving home after a baby shower in Texas. They were stopped at a checkpoint and held for nearly six hours. They were then driven to a facility in McAllen, where they were kept for five days. After that, they were transferred to the Dilley Processing Center—where they were held for 19 days.

According to ICE’s own guidelines, short-term detentions should not exceed 72 hours. Before June, this guideline was 36 hours.

“It was very scary,” Warner told Vancouver City News. “I had to manage myself while trying to make it fun for my seven-year-old daughter.” 

In December, the Marshall Project also reported that at least 3,800 kids under 18—including 20 infants—have been detained in ICE facilities since Trump took office. Hundreds of them were reportedly in Dilley, though after mass public pressure, the number has dropped from 300 to about 80, after a series of letters from children trapped inside were published. 

“I feel like I’ll never get out of here,” one of the kids detained at Dilley told ProPublica in February. “I just ask that you don’t forget about us.” 

Warner also told the Guardian how the anti-bacterial soap and heavy-duty detergents “stripped” her daughter’s skin. “It was incredibly hot, itchy, and cracked. She was in a lot of pain,” she said. 

Warner moved from Canada to Texas five years ago and is married to a U.S. citizen. Her husband, who has a sex offender charge from when he was a teenager, was unable to sponsor her. So instead, Warner has been in the country on an “employment authorization” status, which expires in June 2030. 

She and her daughter were released on a bond of $9,500 nearly three weeks after they were detained, likely expedited amid mounting public pressure. After their release, Warner was fitted with an ankle monitor, and reportedly has to go through a series of hearings to see if she and her daughter are allowed to stay in the U.S.

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