Manpreet turned 11 in ICE detention. Her parents assembled a cake from commissary snacks. There were no candles. If there had been, she said, she would have wished for her family to get out of Dilley.

She is still there.

Manpreet and her brother Guri, 12, have been detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley since February, along with their parents Jagdish and Gurwinder. They came to the United States from Punjab, India, in 2022 seeking asylum. Jagdish had converted from Sikhism to Catholicism and faced persistent threats and violence from his community because of his faith. They fled religious persecution. They settled in Los Angeles near family. They attended their check-in appointment as required. An immigration officer told them they were being detained.

In that moment, Gurwinder said, it was like my life force was sucked out of me.

Three months later, her arthritis has become unbearable. The medication she was prescribed to manage it at Dilley made her diabetes harder to control. She spends time in the medical center. Each morning her 11-year-old daughter helps her out of bed, fixes her hair, and gets her dressed.

Guri has blood in his stools. The facility has not been able to refer him to a specialist. Manpreet lost 6 pounds after a week of vomiting she believes was caused by the tap water. She now buys bottled water from the commissary. On the days their faith requires them to eat vegetarian, no meat-free options are available. So on those days, they go hungry.

Jagdish cries thinking about what his children are facing. He worries they will blame him for what happened because they needed to flee after he changed his faith. He says he came here to save himself and ended up ruining three lives. He did not ruin three lives. He tried to save them. The United States is supposed to be the country where people who face persecution for their faith can find safety. That is not a political position. It is the foundational promise of American asylum law and one of the oldest principles this country claims to stand for.

Pediatricians, psychiatrists, and physicians have repeatedly warned that any detention harms children and that prolonged detention causes profound physical and mental damage. Guri says he worries he is going crazy inside Dilley. Manpreet has stopped attending school to stay near her mother in case she needs help. Their father cannot get anything more than over-the-counter painkillers for a leg injury from a car accident. Their mother's health is deteriorating. Their children are suffering. And there is no timeline for when any of this ends.

This family has not been charged with any crime. They followed the legal process. They came to the United States through proper channels, applied for asylum, and attended their check-in. They deserve to have their asylum case heard. They do not deserve to have it heard from inside a detention facility where their children are going hungry, getting sick, and losing pieces of themselves while they wait.

Sign this petition to demand ICE immediately release Manpreet, Guri, Jagdish, and Gurwinder from the Dilley detention center pending the resolution of their asylum case, provide immediate medical care including specialist referrals for Guri and appropriate arthritis medication for Gurwinder, and honor America's commitment to protecting people who flee religious persecution by processing their asylum case with the urgency and dignity it deserves.