‘Even in Russia, they don’t treat children like this’

Nikita and his wife Oksana fled Russia in desperation two years ago, believing America was their only hope of giving their three children a life free from fear and oppression.

Instead, these children are growing up behind the razor wire of a South Texas detention center, among hundreds of other families victimized by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

During their four months at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center — an isolated, prison-like facility that has come under increasing scrutiny due to what human rights advocates describe as inhumane conditions — Nikita and Oksana say their children endured indignities they never imagined possible in the United States.

Worms in their food. Guards shouting orders and snatching toys from little hands. Restless nights under fluorescent lights that never go completely dark. Hours of waiting for a single pill.

“We have left one tyranny and arrived at another kind of tyranny,” Nikita said in Russian. “Even in Russia, they don’t treat children that way.”

NBC News spoke with the family via Zoom this week and reviewed their attorney’s request for release, as well as dozens of pages of medical records. During an hour and a half video call, Nikita, an engineer, and Oksana, a nurse, described how their months at Dilley drained their children — physically, emotionally and academically. Their two eldest children sat behind them in a drab conference room, doodling or staring blankly at the screen. The preschooler wandered around the room, swinging a thin plastic rod attached to a set of blinds like a toy sword.

The couple asked to be identified only by their first names because they fear reprisals if they are deported to Russia, where Nikita says he has spoken out against President Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Their story offers a glimpse into what children endure in prolonged confinement as the Trump administration expands family detention.

Kirill, 13, who taught himself to play the piano and attended music school, spends most of his days withdrawn, waking up at night with anxiety and panic attacks, his parents said.

Konstantin, 4, a sociable boy, is often frightened by loud noises and guards, his parents said. He once cried for hours after a small toy plane was confiscated.

Kamilla, 12 – a dancer who loved performing on stage – now suffers partial hearing loss in one ear after what her parents say was a poorly treated infection. For weeks, she counted down the days until her birthday, telling NBC News she only had one wish.

“To get out of here,” she said.

On Monday, the family’s lawyer, Elora Mukherjee, filed a request for immediate release on medical grounds. In the letter, Mukherjee, a professor at Columbia Law School and director of its Immigrant Rights Clinic, wrote that the children had been detained for more than 120 days, more than six times the 20-day limit set in a federal court agreement governing juvenile detention. She argued that their health deteriorated as a result.

“Kamilla should not spend her birthday in jail,” Mukherjee said. “She didn’t do anything wrong.”

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security defended the family’s detention while their asylum application was pending. He said the Dilley facility “was repurposed for families” to ensure the well-being of children and accused the media of “peddling hoaxes” about poor conditions in immigration detention centers.

“The Trump Administration will not ignore the rule of law or release unvetted illegal aliens into the country,” the statement said. “All of their requests will be heard by an immigration judge and they will receive full and due process.”

CoreCivic, the company that operates Dilley under a federal contract, referred questions about the facility to DHS and said in statements that the health and safety of detainees was its top priority.

The family’s detention comes as Trump immigration officials restart and expand large-scale family confinement. Past presidents have used family detention in limited circumstances, and the Biden administration has largely ended the practice, releasing most asylum-seeking families while their cases move forward. Under Trump, authorities are sending significant numbers of families to Dilley and apparently detaining them for weeks or months.

The facility gained national attention last month after a photograph of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a blue bunny hat as he was led away by police officers circulated online, renewing concerns about conditions inside Dilley. Since last spring, lawyers and advocates have complained about inadequate medical care, contaminated food and minimal schooling for children detained there.

DHS has said family detention is necessary to keep families together while it works to deport them.

Nikita and Oksana’s journey to Dilley began in October. After fleeing Russia in 2024 and spending more than a year in Mexico trying to determine the best path to safety in the United States, Nikita led her family to the Otay Mesa port of entry and requested asylum, telling an agent that her activism against the Russian government put them in danger. An asylum officer later discovered that the family had a credible fear of persecution, according to Mukherjee. But rather than being released to the United States while their case progressed, they were detained.

After five days in freezing federal holding cells — where the family says the children slept under foil blankets on thin mats — they were transferred to Dilley, expecting to wait there for a few weeks at most.

Their plight reflects what their advocates describe as an impossible choice facing many Russian asylum seekers. After Russia invaded Ukraine, anti-war activists, online critics and resisters of military conscription fled the country by the tens of thousands, fearing imprisonment or worse. With Europe largely closed to Russian nationals, many have turned to the U.S. southern border as one of the few remaining avenues of protection, believing that America would be “a safe haven for those fighting for freedom and democracy,” said Dmitry Valuev, president of Russian America for Democracy in Russia, a group that advocates for the cause of Russians trapped in U.S. immigration centers.

Instead, Valuev said, some now find themselves detained indefinitely.

“And they don’t understand why, because they are not criminals,” Valuev said. “They came to the United States to contribute to society in their new country. They do not want to become illegal immigrants. They want to obey the law.”

Inside Dilley, Nikita and Oksana said, the days blur together.