Venezuelan detainees at the Bluebonnet immigrant detention center in Anson, Texas, have sent a distress signal to the outside world by forming the letters “SOS” with their bodies. This event shares the plight of many detainees at Bluebonnet. The facility has come under fire for its poor treatment of immigrants, particularly Venezuelan migrants.
Bluebonnet, named after Texas’s state flower, is a privately run detention center. The Management and Training Corporation operates it as a badged facility under a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The new facility is located approximately 200 miles west of Dallas. In fiscal year 2025, DOC housed an average of 846 daily detainees.
Last week, immigration officials told Venezuelan detainees that they were associated with the Tren de Aragua criminal organization. This allegation places them on the path to deportation under the Alien Enemies Act. Most detainees detained at such institutions—and their families—categorically reject these charges, insisting that the detainees are not gang members. Family members have described how detainees are being pressured to sign declarations claiming their membership in the Tren de Aragua.
One such detainee, Millan, was transferred to Bluebonnet in mid-April from the private Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. He had been detained at Stewart ever since immigration agents arrested him on March 12 in the Atlanta suburbs. Millan and other musicians at Bluebonnet have told us of times they’ve gone without food, of feeling the need to sleep more to manage with hunger.
Detainees at Bluebonnet have asylum cases awaiting heard, including one set for May 1. Legal concern has been raised about the legality of such deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. An immigration official commented on the situation, stating, “If he gets removed under the Alien Enemies Act, then that court date doesn’t exist. He’ll never have that court date.”
Against such odds, a sliver of hope emerged last week when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked the deportation of Venezuelan migrants like those at Bluebonnet. This legal victory has brought tremendous joy and relief to the detainees today. Most of them are terrified of being returned to the acute crisis situation their home country has plunged into.
To document the situation, Reuters conducted an aerial survey of Bluebonnet on April 28 using a small plane and a drone. The photos taken during this historic action help to give visual life to the detainees’ struggle and their SOS call for help to the American people.
In response to concerns about capacity and treatment within the facility, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that it “uses multiple strategies to manage capacity while maintaining compliance with federal standards and our commitment to humane treatment.”
The treatment and conditions at Bluebonnet have called into question the appropriate treatment of ICE detainees, as well as their Constitutional rights. One unnamed man voiced his frustration regarding his situation: “If I don’t have a criminal record in the three countries in which I have lived in, how are they going to send me to El Salvador?”
The situation of Venezuelan detainees at Bluebonnet is an issue that demands immediate attention. Their efforts to tell us what they’re going through highlight the need for transparency and compassion in our immigration system.