I study and teach about the criminalization of migration and the social construction of “illegality” that dominates current discourse and immigration policy. My goal is to use critical approaches to human rights, humanitarianism, and law to think through US immigration policies and the violence of detention and deportation. My dissertation research stems from volunteer work as a legal advocate in the South Texas Family Residential Center, a “family” detention center in Dilley, Texas. I consider the family detention center, and lawsuits over licensing them as “child-care facilities”, as a case study to contribute to broader discussions of rights, refugees, and migration, and to understand the spread of structures and procedures that perpetuate worldwide detention regimes.