Children "held like criminals" inside ICE detention center

Joel Andre is a 17-year-old immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a soccer-obsessed high school junior who now lives just outside of Portland, Maine. At the moment, for Joel and his younger sister, Estafania, homework is taking a back seat to this summer's World Cup – which is the perfect distraction at this dinner table for a family that badly needs one. "Every time I'm doing something, I always think about Olivia," said Joel. Olivia is their 19-year-old sister. All three, along with their mother, Carine, were detained last November at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. "In Dilley was very hard, very hard," said Joel. "Especially to kids, right? The food, the water you drink, even the water you shower, is the worst." But when Joel, Estafania and their mother were released in March, Olivia, at 19 years old, had to stay. Joel said, "We all went like, why? Why?" Estafania said, "I have a hope that we can all be together, but I don't know when, where." Olivia, an asylum seeker, was kept in detention at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, after her mother and siblings were released. Family Photo The family had fled the Congo after Carine, an activist, was brutalized for speaking out against the ruling regime. They came here seeking political asylum. …