US Congressman Greg Casar on Thursday repeated his call for the Trump administration to close the immigration detention center in southern Texas where it's held thousands of children over the past 18 months—children, the progressive Democrat said, who "should be playing soccer, going to school, living their lives, not being arrested on the streets," as one of the center's newest detainees, 5-year-old Liam Tadeo, was earlier this week.
Casar demanded the release of at least 112 children who are being held at South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, outside San Antonio, days after Tadeo was abducted along with his father by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop in Austin.
Tadeo and his father were on their way to the child's soccer game, days before he was set to start kindergarten, when they were arrested and taken to the detention center, said Casar. The facility, which is commonly known simply as Dilley, is a for-profit center run by CoreCivic that has come under scrutiny over reports of medical neglect and poor conditions for the dozens of families detained there.
"Liam should be starting kindergarten this week," said Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "Instead, he's sitting in a trailer prison right now in Dilley, Texas."
Lidia Terrazas of Univision posted a video on social media showing Tadeo crying during the arrest.
"Liam has been living in the United States for most of his life," said Terrazas. "I just want you to see him. I want you to look at his face. I can't even imagine what he was feeling in this moment... He's crying, he looks at his dad while surrounded by immigration officers."
Terrazas and Casar both noted that Tadeo has the same name as another 5-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, who was abducted by ICE on January 20 in Minnesota, as he was returning home from preschool with his father. Images of the boy wearing a blue bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack were circulated widely online as the public expressed outrage over his detention, which happened around the same time that two US citizens were fatally shot on the streets of Minneapolis by federal immigration agents.
A federal judge ordered the release of Conejo Ramos and his father in February, but they are now fighting a ruling to deport them.
Patricia Resendiz, Tadeo's aunt, posted a fundraiser on GoFundMe, asking the community "for help to secure the release of my nephew."
"The detention of Liam and my brother-in-law was cruel; they are not criminals—they were simply on their way to a soccer match," wrote Resendiz. "Liam is a beautiful, intelligent, and big-hearted little boy. My sister is devastated, and so are we. Liam was detained right in front of my son, his cousin. My son told me that the ICE agents said to Liam, 'You can't escape.' We appreciate any help you can provide."
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE have not responded to questions from the press, including Newsweek and Univision, about Tadeo's detention.
But DHS recently told FOX 7 Austin that it would continue ramping up deportation operations in the Texas capital, with the agency asserting that "being in detention is a choice" and imploring undocumented immigrants to "self-deport."
"The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the US the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return," said DHS. "Under President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, ICE is targeting the worst of the worst."
Despite the administration's persistent claims that undocumented immigrants should "self-deport," AL.com reported on Thursday on a Venezuelan family who attempted to return to their home country, went to an ICE check-in appointment as part of the process, and were detained and taken to Dilley, where they've been held for more than a month.
The family's 7-year-old daughter has appealed to Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), the chair of a Senate subcommittee on homeland security appropriations who spoke out against Conejo Ramos' detention earlier the year, asking her to help secure the family's release.
Tadeo was detained a day before Judge Dolly M. Gee of the US District Court in Los Angeles ordered a new oversight effort at Dilley and other detention facilities in Texas and California where children are being held. The judge found that children at Dilley have likely been forced to live in unsafe temperatures with inadequate sleeping quarters and without basic hygiene products like soap.
The court also found that the government may be keeping inaccurate records regarding the length of children's detention. Under the Flores settlement, children cannot be held in immigration detention for longer than 20 days. Over the past year, said attorneys for minors who have been detained at Dilley, about 1,560 children have been held at the facility for more than 20 days.
