Texas state law enforcement officers on Wednesday fired tear gas to disperse protesters gathered outside a United States immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas, where demonstrators were demanding the release of a five-year-old Ecuadoran boy and other detainees held by immigration authorities.
The protest took place outside the South Texas Family Residential Center, where about 100 demonstrators assembled, holding placards and accusing federal immigration agents of intimidating immigrant communities.
The protesters were calling for the release of Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old asylum seeker from Ecuador, who is being detained alongside his father, Adrian Conejo Arias.
Law enforcement officers, dressed in riot gear, moved in to disperse the crowd and deployed tear gas canisters. One of the canisters reportedly landed close to journalists covering the protest, temporarily affecting at least one reporter at the scene.
Speaking during the demonstration, local elected official Christina Morales said the protest was aimed at drawing national attention to immigration enforcement practices.
“We want accountability. We want lawmakers to stop funding aggressive immigration raids, and we want people to pay attention as the midterm elections approach,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Democratic lawmakers Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett visited the detention center to inspect conditions and meet with detainees, including the young child. Castro later shared details of his interaction with the boy’s family in a video message.
“His father told us that the child has not been himself. He has been withdrawn, sleeping a lot, and appears sad,” Castro said.
He also insisted that the family was legally present in the United States while their asylum case was being processed.
Liam and his father were arrested on January 20 in Minneapolis by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Images of the arrest, showing the preschooler wearing a school backpack and a blue bunny hat while being led away by officers, sparked widespread outrage online and across the United States.
According to the superintendent of the boy’s school, Zena Stenvik, immigration officers allegedly used the child to lure adults out of the family’s home before making the arrest.
“The manner in which this was carried out was deeply distressing and traumatic for the child,” she said.
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted the deportation of the child and his father, pending further legal review.
Castro also called for the release of other detainees at the privately run facility, arguing that none of those held there posed a criminal threat. “This was presented as a crackdown on dangerous criminals, but the people here are asylum seekers, not criminals,” he said.
