DILLEY, Texas (AP) — Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett on Wednesday visited a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father at a Texas federal detention center, in a case that has stirred anger over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and given fuel to Democrats and others who are pushing back against ICE's actions.
Castro said the lawmakers met with Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, for about
30 minutes in a courtroom inside the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, near San Antonio. Outside the facility, Texas state police officers confronted protesters who demonstrated in support of the detainees inside.
Liam’s father said the boy has been sleeping a lot, asking about his mom and his classmates and said he wants to go back to school, Castro said.
“I would ask President Trump, who himself has grandkids who are of the age of some of the kids we met with today, to think of what it would be like for his grandkids to be behind bars,” Castro said during a news conference later Wednesday, where he and other Democrats called for Liam and other detainees to be released.
The meeting was part of Democrats’ midterm-election-year effort to conduct congressional oversight and highlight the consequences of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took Liam and his father into custody on Jan. 20 in Minneapolis as part of a sweeping operation that has wrenched the city and spawned massive protests from residents. Two U.S. citizens have been shot and killed by federal officers during the operation.
A photo of the boy, wearing a blue winter hat and a Spider-Man backpack as he was detained, has circulated widely and drawn strong reactions. Castro described the child as “emblematic of the monstrosity of the ICE system and the detention system.”
Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.
A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary order prohibiting the Trump administration from removing Ramos and Arias from the U.S. as their detention is challenged.
Crockett, who is seeking her party's nomination for U.S. Senate, said Wednesday that Liam was one of many children the lawmakers met at the facility, and that the kids said they're not getting an education. Crockett said lawmakers were told that detainees could not be there if they had a criminal record.
“We are supposed to be better than this,” she said.
Outside the detention center on Wednesday, Texas state police deployed chemical irritants toward protesters, who had gathered in support of the detainees being held at the facility. Some in the large group banged drums, chanted and carried signs that included “Children are not criminals!”
As protesters moved closer to the facility, Texas state police officers arrived on a school bus and shouted instructions for the crowd to move back. Some officers then deployed pepper balls, dispersing the crowd.
The Texas Department of Public Safety did not immediately return an email seeking comment about the confrontation with protesters.
Castro, a prominent member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accused Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a recent video of running a “lawless” immigration enforcement operation that is effectively a “bounty hunter organization.”
Like Castro, Crockett and her Senate Democratic primary rival, state Rep. James Talarico, are among the Democrats calling for Noem’s impeachment. Crockett also voted against a pending appropriations bill that would fund Noem’s department and the immigration enforcement agencies that fall under it.
The Republican-controlled House passed the DHS funding bill with the help of a handful of Democrats, days before 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed. Several Senate Democrats said after Pretti’s death that they would not approve DHS funding, even if it means a partial government shutdown starting this weekend.
Democrats have criticized the Trump administration over their lack of access to ICE facilities.
Minnesota Reps. Angie Craig, Kelly Morrison and Ilhan Omar were denied access to detainees at a federal building outside Minneapolis on Jan. 10. The Department of Homeland Security has said the three Democrats did not comply with a new policy to give facilities seven days’ notice.
The same policy was invoked to deny Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, from entering the Dilley facility and another in Pearsall, Texas, last week. Murphy said the denials keep Congress from fulfilling its constitutional and statutory responsibility to conduct oversight of executive branch facilities.
A federal judge declined to intervene earlier this month, refusing to force the administration to comply with lawmakers’ demands for improved access.
Castro said detainees in Dilley were allowed by the administration — or its private contractor running the facility — to sign up to meet him and Crockett.
After the visit, Castro posted a picture on social media of the meeting. In it, Liam is seen in his father's arms, with his eyes closed.
“I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him,” Castro posted on social media.
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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporter Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
