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Rachel Anne Accurso, widely known as Ms. Rachel, is continuing to use her platform to fight for justice and peace – now joining forces with activists and legal advocates in a push to shut down the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas.
In an interview with NBC, Accurso described speaking with two children in detention over video calls. She shared a clip of one conversation earlier this month, in which nine-year-old Deiver Henao said he hopes to be released in time for his spelling bee and that he missed his friends very much.
"I don’t want to be here anymore," Henao said. "Nothing is good here".
Accurso said she first learned about the detention center back in January, after the father of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos in Minneapolis was detained.
"It was unbelievably surreal to see this sweet little face and feel like I was on a call with somebody who’s in jail," she shared with the outlet. "It broke me, and it was something I never thought I’d encounter in life".
Accurso also met five-year-old Gael, who is autistic and non-verbal. His health started to deteriorate in the center with Gael becoming increasingly distressed.
Gael and his family have since been released, with Accurso issuing a heartfelt message on her platform to mark the moment.
"You helped make this happen by spreading Gael and his family’s story. I’m so grateful and so relieved. Heroes help kids and you are heroes," she penned.
Accurso has consistently used her platform to advocate and raise money for children affected by conflict in places including in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gaza – efforts that have also drawn backlash from some far-right groups, including allegations of antisemitism.
But one thing is for certain, Accurso is pushing back against efforts to cast her advocacy as apolitical, and is prepared to challenge that framing head-on.
"I am political," she said. "It’s political to believe that children are worthy of love and care, and that every child is equal, and that our care shouldn’t stop at what we look like, our family, at our religion, at a border".
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