Netflix and YouTube star Ms. Rachel is taking on a Texas immigration facility holding her target audience: children. Rachel Accurso, a child educator and entertainer who's built a massive online following under the name Ms. Rachel, told NBC News she is collaborating with lawyers and immigration advocates to close the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas and reunite detained families with their communities. Court-appointed monitors have reported that thousands of children have been held there with their parents during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, often for weeks or months. According to NBC, children have complained of "moldy" food, nonstop lighting, and limited schooling.
Accurso, often seen wearing her signature pink headband and denim overalls, said she became involved after learning that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos had been sent to Dilley with his father; she has since held video calls with detained children, including a 9-year-old who told her he wanted to leave to attend a spelling bee. "Nothing is good here," the boy said, per NBC. "It was unbelievably surreal to see this sweet little face and feel like I was on a call with somebody who's in jail," added Accurso. "It broke me."
Her activism has not come without scrutiny. Some critics accused Accurso of favoring Palestinian children after she posted a video with a 3-year-old double amputee from Gaza last year, per Glamour. And in January, she was accused of antisemitism after her Instagram account liked a comment reading "Free America from the Jews," though she said she'd meant to delete the comment and accidentally liked it instead, per the Hollywood Reporter. Accurso told NBC the backlash has brought threats against her family and initially made her hesitant to take on US immigration policy. She ultimately decided to proceed, saying, "It's political to believe that children are worthy of love and care, and that every child is equal."
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