Texas state police deployed tear gas on Wednesday to disperse protesters outside an immigration detention facility where demonstrators were demanding the release of a five-year-old Ecuadorian boy and others held under tightened U.S. immigration enforcement.
Approximately 100 protesters gathered at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, carrying signs condemning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The demonstration turned confrontational when officers in riot gear fired tear gas canisters, one of which landed near and temporarily incapacitated an AFP journalist.
The protest focused on the case of Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old asylum seeker from Ecuador, who was detained along with his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, in Minneapolis on January 20. Images of the boy—wearing a fluffy blue bunny hat and a backpack—being escorted by immigration officers sparked national outrage.
Democratic Congressmembers Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett visited the facility earlier on Wednesday, where they met with the child and approximately 1,100 other detainees. In a video posted on X, Castro stated that the boy’s father reported the child had become depressed and withdrawn since being detained.
Castro emphasized that the family was “legally in the United States” and called for the release of all those held at the privately-run center, asserting, “There are no criminals in Dilley.”
Local elected official Christina Morales, speaking at the protest, called for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and for Congress to defund ICE.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the deportation of Ramos and his father on Tuesday. The arrest occurred after ICE agents allegedly used the child as “bait” to lure his father outside their home, according to the boy’s school superintendent.
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