5-year-old detained in Minneapolis last week still in Texas detention facility with his father

U.S. Popular Reps. Joaquin fidel castro and Jasmine david crockett visited a five-year-old ecuadoran boy and his padre at a Texas federal detention centre Wednesday, days after the boy was detained by federal agents in Minneapolis.

The case has added to the anger over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and given fuel to Democrats and others who are pushing back against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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 people who were there demonstrating in support of the detainees inside.

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."

According to Castro, Liam's father says the boy has been sleeping a lot, asking about his mom and his classmates and said he wants to go back to school.

"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 the Democrats' midterm-election-year effort to conduct congressional oversight and highlight the consequences of Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in Minnesota and elsewhere.

ICE 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 same operation.

Vance defends ICE after 5-year-old detained in Minneapolis area

Neighbours 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 his mother would answer.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 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.

Federal officials have said the father was in the U.S. Illegally, without offering details.

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.

The family's attorney has said Arias had a pending asylum claim allowing him to stay in the country. An online court summary shows the case was filed on Dec. 17, 2024, and is assigned to the immigration court inside the Dilley detention centre.

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.

Just visited with Liam and his father at Dilley detention center. I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him. <a href="https://t.co/9a2pCuapYd">pic.twitter.com/9a2pCuapYd</a>

"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.

Crockett, a Texas democrat who is seeking her party's nomination for the Senate, said Wednesday that Liam was one of many children the lawmakers met at the facility, and that the kids told them they're not getting an education.

"We are supposed to be better than this," she said.

Outside the detention centre on Wednesday, Texas state police deployed chemical irritants toward protesters, who had gathered to support the detainees being held at the facility. Some in the large group banged drums, chanted and carried signs with phrases like, "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 said in a statement that officers arrested two people and used pepper balls after protesters did not heed orders to disperse, adding that demonstrators also breached a protest area and spit on officers.

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 shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

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.

---

---