Hollywood Heavyweights Take Aim at ICE: Pedro Pascal and Mark Ruffalo Lead A-List Open Letter

There’s been plenty of talk lately about whether celebrities should use awards season platforms to shout out their beliefs (hint: most do it, most will keep doing it, and it always annoys somebody). The latest hot-button issue sweeping through red carpets and Instagram stories? ICE and its notorious detention centers, with a growing number of boldfaced names not just grumbling about it backstage, but willing to put their names on petitions and call out specific cases of abuse.

Hollywood Steps In (Again) — But This Time, It’s Personal

The docudrama One Battle After Another—which, by the way, nabbed an Oscar—has been stirring up buzz and heated debates lately for shining a not-exactly-flattering light on ICE’s detention practices. In what’s maybe not the most surprising plot twist, a lot of the movie’s supporting cast have hopped straight from the screen to the activism bandwagon, calling out the agency over a string of grisly headlines.

If you’re keeping score at home, here’s what set this fresh wave of outrage in motion: Back in January, two U.S. citizens died during encounters with ICE officers. This triggered a pretty stunning spread of outrage from the big hitters—think Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Jenna Ortega, Ed Norton and more—who started using every social media soapbox at their disposal to sound off about government overreach, or in some cases, what’s being painted as outright murder.

Snoozing Support for ICE

Public opinion is shifting as fast as studios dump streaming content. According to recent polls, more than half of Americans (including plenty who were all-in on the agency’s original mission) no longer give ICE a thumbs up. For the first time in a while, pop culture outrage and shifting national mood are pretty much in sync.

The Dilley Spotlight: Sick Kids, Mad Celebs, and a Petition

The latest push? A big, new petition just dropped, laser-focused on closing the Dilley ICE Detention Center in Texas—the country’s largest family detention facility (not a distinction you brag about). Celebs signing on include Pedro Pascal, Mark Ruffalo, and Madonna. The list packs in more than a few One Battle After Another cast members: Javier Bardem, Constance Wu, Jen Tullock, Ramy Youssef, Riley Keough, and Ben Stiller. Oh, and Jane Fonda. Of course Jane Fonda is here—she’s basically the Avengers of Hollywood protest.

What’s pushing Dilley into the crosshairs? Reports say that kids locked up there aren’t getting basic medical treatment. In one twist that’s both bleak and weird, facility staff allegedly told sick kids their problems were 'all mental.' Two separate measles cases reportedly went ignored, with zero care given. Yep, that’s really where we are in 2024.

A Moment With Ms. Rachel (a.k.a., the YouTube Toddler Whisperer)

Children’s educator Ms. Rachel (if there’s a preschooler in your house, you know her) got publicly involved after a devastating phone call with a child still detained at Dilley. She shared:
“It was devastating to hear him talk about just wanting to attend his spelling bee... I never thought I’d be on a call with a 9-year-old who was begging me for help to get out of a prison-like detention center. It was devastating and surreal.”
Shortly after Ms. Rachel brought this story into the spotlight, several children were released from Dilley. Sometimes making noise actually works.

A Not-So-New Scandal (But With New Faces)

Here’s the context everyone seems to forget: ICE wasn’t exactly beloved under Obama, either. His own party used to joke (sort of) about him being the 'deporter in chief.' Turns out, bad treatment of children and families in immigration detention isn’t some recent creation, although Trump-era policy and its fallout have arguably made things more dire—and more public-facing.

Here’s What the Petition Says

• No child should be locked up in an immigration detention center—period.
• The Dilley facility should be shut down immediately.
• The trauma, neglect, and plain old lack of human rights in these centers is well documented—rotten food, dirty water, medical neglect, and kids separated from their families. (And that’s just the stuff that gets reported.)
• Children belong in schools and on playgrounds, not locked away out of sight.
• The federal government and CoreCivic (that’s the private prison contractor) need to close up shop at Dilley, send families back home, and end child imprisonment, full stop.
• The petition calls for more than symbolic action—demanding transparency, accountability, and reforms to make sure this cycle doesn’t repeat itself.

To sum it up: The celebrity push is the latest round in a long battle over how we treat children and families at the border, and it’s picking up serious public steam. Whether the government listens—or just waits out the news cycle—remains to be seen.