Washington DC - Immigrants' rights advocates have denounced the Donald Trump administration's move to reopen an immigrant detention center in Texas formerly used to detain families with children.

The private prison company CoreCivic signed an agreement with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the City of Dilley to reopen the 2,400-bed South Texas Family Residential Center, with the expectation for family detentions to resume.

The announcement has sparked alarm after the Biden administration ended the harmful practice in 2021. The Dilley facility – first opened in December 2014 – was subsequently turned into an adult detention center before it was closed in 2024.

"We are horrified and saddened that the Trump administration is resuming the cruel, unjustified, deeply damaging practice of detaining immigrant children and families," Linda Stone, senior director for immigration at MomsRising/MamásConPoder, said in a press release.

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"As caring people, we know that every child, regardless of where they were born, deserves to live in peace and security. The callous, unjust practice of detaining immigrant families must end," she added.

On his first day back in office, Trump reversed former President Joe Biden's 2021 executive order directing the Department of Justice not to renew contracts with private prisons.

CoreCivic donated $500,000 to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee in December, while several of the Tennessee-based firm's executives have been longtime Trump donors, according to ABC News.

Bruna Sollod, senior political director of United We Dream, said: "Trump's one-track mind to line his pockets and those of his billionaire allies has already begun to have devastating consequences on hard-working Americans nationwide."

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"Immigrant young people and allies urge Congress to reject Trump's revival of family detention," Sollod continued. "They cannot use a single dollar more of our taxpayer dollars to fund this cruel expansion of detention."

"Our elected leaders must understand that fighting to protect immigrants and families is part of the fight to protect us all."

The Trump administration has sparked outrage and accusations of human rights violations amid its escalated immigration enforcement agenda – including authorizing raids at schools.