"ALL I FEEL IS SADNESS" - Detained children tell the truth about Trump's ICE jails in new ProPublica report.

If you want to understand the cruelty of Trump's immigration system, don't listen to press releases. Read the handwriting of a child.

In a devastating report by ProPublica, reporter Mica Rosenberg gathered letters and drawings smuggled out of ICE's Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas-a place few Americans ever see and even fewer children ever forget.

The letters came from kids detained with their parents under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Some are 7. Some are 17. Nearly all had been living in the United States-going to school, making friends-before ICE locked them up. Their words form a chorus of fear, boredom, sickness, and heartbreak.

A 9-year-old from Venezuela writes: "I have been 50 days in Dilley... I feel bad since when I came here to this place, because I have been here too long." She misses her school, her friends, and her family. She explains that her mother doesn't want to leave because she wants "a better future for me," adding, "Seen how people like me, immigrants are been treated changes my perspective about the U.S."

Ariana, 14, detained for 45 days after living in New York, is blunt: "Since I got to this Center all you will feel is sadness and mostly depression." She fears being sent back to Honduras, where danger awaits her family. She describes court hearings that last minutes, arrests "happening illegally," and long waits for medical care. "I haven't been getting any school time," she writes. "All kids are being damage mentally."

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security claim detainees receive meals, education, and medical care. The children's letters tell a different story.

Mia, 7, detained for 70 days, repeats herself like a mantra: "I miss my school… I don't like the food here… I am bored here… I don't feel so good in this place." There's no politics in her words-just a child counting days she shouldn't be counting.

Ender, 12, arrived for an immigration appointment and ended up locked inside. "I don't think they should grab immigrants who are innocent," he writes. "They prefer to lock up children than look for people who really shouldn't be in the U.S." He describes repetitive meals, guards who don't listen, crying families, and water that he believes makes people sick. "Hearing the bad news from people who no longer have hope," he adds, "all that so they send us back to our countries."

Gaby, 14, detained for 20 days, calls the experience "hell." She writes that officers speak to detainees "unhumanly," that food is terrible, and that sadness and depression are constant companions. "I really want to go home," she pleads, "I don't care if I have to go to Katy or Colombia."

Then there is Maria Antonia, 9, detained for 113 days. She describes being interrogated alone for two hours. "ICE used me to catch my mom," she writes. "Now I am in a jail and I am sad and I have fainted 2 times here inside." She doesn't sleep. She cries. She feels guilty for wanting a normal vacation. "Me in Dilley am not happy," she begs. "Please get me out of here."

Rosenberg reports that one parent collected the letters and carried them out upon release so the children's voices could be heard. That act alone tells you how sealed off Dilley is from public view.

Since Trump returned to power, the number of children in ICE detention has increased sixfold. Dilley is the only ICE facility that still holds families. It is not a mistake. It is a choice.

These kids aren't statistics. They aren't "collateral." They are witnesses. And in their own words, they are telling America exactly who we've become.

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