U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, plans to return to Dilley’s South Texas Family Residential Center as early as next week to check in on Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old Minneapolis boy locked up at the immigrant detention site.
“Liam did not look well,” Castro said in a Thursday social media post, shared to Facebook and Instagram. “My staff and I are very concerned about him.”
In the post, Castro said he will “put in notice Friday morning with DHS to return to Dilley to check on Liam again and the many other children and families there.”
However, congressional requests to visit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities must be submitted seven days in advance. That means the earliest Castro could visit would be Friday, Feb. 6, assuming the agency sticks to its rule.
Meanwhile, Castro said Ramos is suffering negative effects from his detention. ICE officers arrested the child and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, on Jan. 20 in a Minneapolis suburb. Eyewitnesses maintain that federal agents used the boy as “bait” in an attempt to get his parents to open their door.
Castro detailed the boy’s condition at a Wednesday press conference at San Antonio City Hall following his visit to the detention site.
“His father said that Liam has been very depressed since he’s been at Dilley, that he hasn’t been eating well,” Castro said. “He seemed lethargic. His father said that Liam has been sleeping a lot.”
In a photo Castro posted from the visit, Liam Conejo Ramos appears prone, asleep in his father’s arms.
When awake, the 5-year-old asked about his bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack, which he wore in the now-viral photo of him being taken into ICE custody, Castro said. Agents confiscated both items. The child also asked about his mom, his classmates and when he could return to school.
“I let him know that his school and his community, his family and our country love him and are praying for him,” Castro said. “I told him we would do everything that we could to get him out of there.”
The congressman said he also applied pressure to the facility’s overseers during the visit.
“I demanded from ICE that they release him,” Castro added. “I told them that most of America wants Liam released.”
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