U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, will hold a community rally Wednesday in San Antonio in response to growing concern over Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement operations.
The rally will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Progresso Hall, 1306 Guadalupe St. The congressman is expected to discuss his visit to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, a detention site for immigrant families about an hour southwest of the Alamo City.
Advocacy group Mothers Against Greg Abbott also will hold a demonstration prior to Castro’s gathering, starting at 4 p.m. However, a location for the protest is still being determined, according to the group.
“Following my visit to the Dilley Immigration Detention Center, I’ll be holding a rally in San Antonio to stand up against ICE violence under Donald Trump,” Castro wrote in an Instagram post. “Now is the time to make your voice heard — I hope to see you there.”
Last week, Castro tweeted out a video message announcing plans to visit the Dilley detention site to check in on 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who’s being held there after his detention by ICE agents in Minneapolis last week. Sparking national outrage, neighbors reported that federal agents took the boy into custody after using him as “bait” to lure out his undocumented father.
About 1,200 people are being held at Dilley, at least 400 of whom are children, according to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy. The Connecticut Democrat tried to enter the lockup last week during a visit to South Texas but was denied access because he didn’t give officials there a seven-day notice prior to his arrival.
“It tells you that these guys have something to hide,” Murphy said in a video posted to his X account. “If they are not letting members of Congress in with less than seven days’ notice, it tells you how much work they know they need to do to cover up and hide the things they don’t want us to see.”
On Saturday, a protest may broke out inside the Dilley detention site in response to events in Minneapolis, according to reports from news organizations and visitors to the facility. The South Texas Family Residential Center has also drawn intense criticism from immigrant-rights advocates, who say it’s unable to provide basic care for its residents.
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