California woman spends $10,000 a day feeding people in immigration detention

Casey Revkin, a mother from California, began helping migrant children about ten years ago. Early last year, she learned that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had reopened the Southern Family Detention Center in Texas, and many children there were suffering from hunger, she writes. The Washington Post.

Edgarianny Cortez Geris of Venezuela and her daughter were held at the Federal Immigration Detention Center in Dilley, Texas, and were gradually losing weight. Cortez Geris was pregnant and could barely eat the rice and meat mixture served in the cafeteria. Her child ate almost nothing and suffered from diarrhea.

Then Cortes Geris learned of a woman who funded detainees' commission accounts so they could buy bottled water, instant noodles, and other food the children were willing to eat. She didn't know her name or how to contact her. But Edgarianni had heard that this woman was helping hundreds of families by providing them with an alternative to the prison food, which many couldn't eat. Soon, help reached her.

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Casey Revkin of California began helping migrant children about ten years ago. A year and a half ago, she learned that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had reopened the Southern Family Detention Center in Texas to accommodate the growing number of children being held there with their parents while their immigration cases were being processed. Parents reported finding cockroaches in their food, and children vomiting after drinking tap water. Some children were so distressed that they barely ate.

"I wanted to do something to fix this," Revkin said. "It helps me to know that I'm making life a little easier for these children in such terrible conditions."

Revkin currently sends over $10,000 weekly through her nonprofit, Each Step Home, to families housed in Dilley so they can buy food and other essentials from the center's thrift store. Over the past seven months, she says, she's helped families buy everything from candy bars for birthdays to nasal sprays for children suffering from the Texas dust.

"She's like a fairy godmother," said Christine Etter, an attorney with the Texas Immigration Law Council. "Without her, the people of Dilley literally wouldn't survive."

Detainees in federal immigration detention centers across the country report feeling ill after eating food that's spoiled, contaminated with insects, or poorly prepared. For many, buying food at thrift stores is their only option, but human rights advocates and the detainees themselves say the prices there are inflated. For example, in January, a serving of instant noodles cost $1,11 each, according to receipts Revkin provided to The Washington Post. The same package costs almost half that at a typical supermarket in Texas.

She says she first became aware of the problem after the story of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old boy detained while returning from daycare during the stepped-up DHS operations in Minneapolis. He fell ill while staying with his father at the Dilley Center. Revkin was already familiar with the center from her work during the first Trump administration, helping parents separated from their children.

Now, she saw an opportunity to help families again and contacted her network of immigration lawyers, activists, and legislators, beginning to explore ways to fund the commission accounts of individual detainees. Centers like Dilli use third-party payment systems that allow for direct transfers. Her first transfer was to the family of a two-month-old child with a respiratory infection. After that, lawyers and families began contacting her with requests to help other children in Dilli.

The number of children in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers has increased significantly during Donald Trump's second term. Revkin regularly sends money to 67 families a week, helping nearly 80 children in Dilley. She says the funds come from ordinary people who learn about the fundraiser online and donate small amounts through her organization.

Families entering and leaving Dilli share her contact information. Lawyers also contact her with requests to help specific children. Revkin communicates directly with some families through the detention center's internal messaging apps.

Often, their requests are for basic things like toothbrushes. Sometimes a mother asks for a few dollars to buy chocolate bars for her three-year-old's birthday. Another family bought cookies, which they broke up and assembled into a semblance of a cake for the father's birthday.

The Dilli detention center is operated by a private, for-profit company, CoreCivic. Its representatives claim to provide basic amenities, including bedding, toiletries, and showers. Company spokesman Ryan Gustin denied allegations of poor food and water quality. He stated that independent tests confirm the purity of the water, which comes from the same sources as the local population. He added that the menu, considered "nutritious," is regularly checked and includes a salad bar and fruit every day.

According to Gustin, the consignment shop sells items at prices comparable to those in local stores and is reviewed every two years. Proceeds go to the center's welfare fund, which is used to purchase items like books.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said all detainees receive clean water and three meals a day, which are monitored by certified nutritionists.

"The Dilley Center meets federal standards for detention and undergoes regular inspections and audits," the statement said. "Being there is a choice."

Revkin founded her nonprofit in 2018. Through social media, she connected with other mothers outraged by the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, which had separated thousands of children from their parents.

She says she visited the Dilli center and saw how the conditions affect parents and children. Families live mostly in mobile housing units, parents complain that the toilets are often dirty, and children regularly wet the bed due to stress.

They say the basic supplies provided by the center, such as toothbrushes, break quickly and there is a shortage of toothpaste.

Some families remain there longer than the 21 days established by the Flores Agreement. This federal court ruling has established basic standards for the detention of migrant children in the United States since 1997. Their testimony now appears in federal court filings. The Trump administration dismisses allegations of prolonged detention, calling them a "myth."

Revkin says she's spoken with families from 26 countries, including Nepal, China, Jordan, Iran, and Ukraine. She tries not to ask too many questions, as calls are monitored by the center's administration. But she still tries to get to know them as well as possible.

"I ask them what their favorite movie is, what music they listen to, or what sports team they support," she explained. "I try to humanize these families."

She says many detainees, like the Cortez Geris family, were admitted to the country through the parole process and complied with ICE's regular reporting requirements. Sometimes she cries at night thinking about all of this.

"We're not asking to abolish ICE or completely change the system," she assured. "We're asking to end the detention of children. There are humane alternatives that allow people to live freely while their cases are being processed."

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For Cortez Geris, every day at the center is another day of worrying about her children: the one next to her and the one not yet born. Her 7-year-old daughter said last month she wanted to die. This week, ICE gathered the family for the deportation flight they had hoped for. But they were ultimately returned to the detention center.

Their commission account was empty again. The girl was desperate—she thought they were going home.

Revkin learned about what happened and transferred $100 to their account.

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