A growing coalition of high-profile celebrities—including Madonna, Pedro Pascal, Mark Ruffalo, Keke Palmer, and more—is putting renewed pressure on U.S. immigration policy by backing an open letter to shut down a controversial ICE detention facility in Texas.
The letter—which is still live on Change.org—targets the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a family detention site that has faced immense scrutiny over alleged conditions for the children and adults held there. Public figures, medical professionals, and advocates alike have signed the open letter calling for the facility’s immediate closure and broader reforms to the detention of migrant families.
Related: ‘Appalled and Sickened’ Olivia Wilde Wears ‘ICE OUT’ Pin at Sundance as ‘People Are Being Murdered’
The letter reads:
“No child should be locked in an immigration detention center … Children held in immigration detention endure trauma, neglect, and conditions that violate basic standards of health, safety, dignity, and human rights.
The harms of detaining children are known and well-documented. Court filings of abuse against children have included refusals to provide clean water, rotten food contaminated with worms, dangerous medical neglect, sleep deprivation, denial of legal counsel, the separation of children from their families, and retaliation against families protesting the inhumane conditions.
Children belong in schools and on playgrounds, not in detention centers.”
The renewed attention on Dilley reflects a broader push by activists and public figures to not only close individual facilities but to challenge the system of family detention altogether. The letter goes on to say that the closure of this particular facility would only be the first step. The signees “demand transparency, accountability, and systemic reforms” to prevent the aforementioned abuses from happening elsewhere, as well.
The Trump administration is estimated to have brought more than 2,300 children into custody during his first year alone. The majority of them are reportedly held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.
Stars like Madonna, Pedro Pascal, and Mark Ruffalo have spoken openly about immigration policies throughout the years. Madonna reminded fans on Facebook back in 2015 that “we are all immigrants” and “we all bleed the same color,” asking them to “pray for peace.”
Pascal has also spoken about being an immigrant himself.
“I want people to be safe and to be protected,” he said at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025. “I want to live on the right side of history. I am an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the United States after asylum in Denmark. If it weren’t for that, I don’t know what would have happened to us. I stand by those protections always.”
Meanwhile, Ruffalo—who has been particularly vocal and seen wearing an ICE Out pin at major media events—has argued that, when it comes to crime across the country, “it’s not the immigrants; it’s the billionaires.”
Related: Celebrities Who Wore ‘ICE Out’ Pins at 2026 Grammy Awards
Other noteworthy names listed amongst the Change.org letter’s signatures include Brandi Carlile, Kesha, Lance Bass, Ben Stiller, Abby Wambach, Eva Longoria, Gracie Abrams, and more.
The letter has gained traction quickly, fueled in part by viral social media advocacy and growing public concern over immigration enforcement practices. Organizers have paired the open letter with a public-facing petition, encouraging broader participation beyond celebrity signatories.
