Texas congressman Joaquin Castro has issued a “concerning” update on Liam Ramos, the five-year-old boy detained along with his father by ICE officials on January 20.
In one of the more controversial stories to come out of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ongoing operations in Minneapolis, Ramos was reportedly picked up by ICE after returning home from preschool. He was allegedly then used as bait to lure his father out of their home – the two were later taken into custody.
As per reports, they’ve since been held at Dilley ICE detention center in Texas, despite claims that Liam’s father, Adrian Conejo Arias, has the appropriate paper work and is in the U.S. legally.
Texas congressman Joaquin Castro visited the facility to get a first-hand look at conditions there, and has since spoken out to deliver an update sure to add fuel to the fire of debate.
In a post on X, Castro revealed he had met with both Liam and his father, as well as others among the 1,100 individuals currently detained there. The congressman said that included “countless more children and families who have done nothing wrong and should not be detained.”
Castro said he had spent 30 minutes with Liam and Adrian, providing an update on their well-being to people who have been “worried sick” about him, including teachers, classmates, and his family.
Alarmingly, the congressman said Adrian had told him that Liam “hasn’t been himself”.
Castro said the five-year-old boy “wasn’t in any kind of emergency or anything physically” but had been “sleeping a lot because he’s been depressed and sad.”
Heartbreakingly, he explained how Liam’s classmates “miss him” and have “kept his space and his desk for him and they’re waiting for him to get back.”
“Liam said that he misses his classmates and his family and wants to be back at school,” Castro added.
Liam, one of four children from the school district in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights to have been detained, has reportedly been “asking about that hat and that backpack” – referring to the items he was seen wearing in an image that went viral when he was detained.
Castro declared himself “concerned about his mental state”.
“With Liam, I very bluntly told the ICE officials there […] that the country is against what’s going on, that Liam needs to be released, that the country demands his release and that no child that’s five years old should be in detention like that,” Castro said in his video.
According to a news release from Columbia Heights Public Schools, an adult known to Liam’s family had offered to take Liam in when he returned from preschool on the day he was detained, but ICE agents refused. They reportedly instead led the boy to his front door and ordered him to knock, “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.”
Liam’s father’s attorney vehemently denied the account of the arrest offered by federal officials, and said the man was in the country legally, awaiting asylum.
Speaking on the Dilley ICE detention center, Congressman Castro argued: “There isn’t a single criminal over there. Because if you commit a crime, they separate you from your daughter or child.”
He concluded: “Liam did not look well. My staff and I are very concerned about him.
“I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him.
“[…] I ask my colleagues in Congress — House and Senate — to join me. I ask the American people to continue speaking up. Your voice makes a difference. #FreeLiam.”
READ MORE
- JD Vance breaks silence after ICE detains 5-year-old boy in Minneapolis coming home from preschool
- ‘Pink coat lady’ who filmed “murder” of Alex Pretti breaks silence
