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In this image provided by US Representative Joaquin Castro, Castro, left, visited with Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, on Wednesday.Uncredited\/Associated Press<\/p>\n\u201cI would ask President Trump, who himself has grandkids who are of the age of some of the kids we met with today, to think of what it would be like for his grandkids to be behind bars,\u201d Castro said during a news conference later Wednesday, where he and other Democrats called for Liam and other detainees to be released.<\/p>\n
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The meeting was part of Democrats\u2019 midterm-election-year effort to conduct congressional oversight and highlight the consequences of President Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown in Minnesota and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took Liam and his father into custody on Jan. 20 in Minneapolis as part of a sweeping operation that has wrenched the city and spawned massive protests from residents. Two U.S. citizens have been shot and killed by federal officers during the operation.<\/p>\n
In this image provided by US Representative Joaquin Castro, Castro, left, visited with Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, on Wednesday.Uncredited\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
A photo of the boy, wearing a blue winter hat and a Spider-Man backpack as he was detained, has circulated widely and drawn strong reactions. Castro described the child as \u201cemblematic of the monstrosity of the ICE system and the detention system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers used the preschooler as \u201cbait\u201d by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an \u201cabject lie.\u201d It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.<\/p>\n
A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary order prohibiting the Trump administration from removing Ramos and Arias from the U.S. as their detention is challenged.<\/p>\n
Crockett, who is seeking her party\u2019s nomination for U.S. Senate, said Wednesday that Liam was one of many children the lawmakers met at the facility, and that the kids said they\u2019re not getting an education. Crockett said lawmakers were told that detainees could not be there if they had a criminal record.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are supposed to be better than this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Protests outside detention facility<\/p>\n
Outside the detention center on Wednesday, Texas state police deployed chemical irritants toward protesters, who had gathered in support of the detainees being held at the facility. Some in the large group banged drums, chanted and carried signs that included \u201cChildren are not criminals!\u201d<\/p>\n
As protesters moved closer to the facility, Texas state police officers arrived on a school bus and shouted instructions for the crowd to move back. Some officers then deployed pepper balls, dispersing the crowd.<\/p>\n
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A canister of pepper spray launched by Texas troopers flew towards protesters outside the South Texas Family Residential Center detention facility on Wednesday.Eric Gay\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement that officers arrested two people and used pepper balls after protesters did not heed orders to disperse, adding that demonstrators also breached a protest area and spit on officers.<\/p>\n
Democrats are looking for ways to push back<\/p>\n
Castro, a prominent member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accused Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a recent video of running a \u201clawless\u201d immigration enforcement operation that is effectively a \u201cbounty hunter organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Castro, Crockett and her Senate Democratic primary rival, state Rep. James Talarico, are among the Democrats calling for Noem\u2019s impeachment. Crockett also voted against a pending appropriations bill that would fund Noem\u2019s department and the immigration enforcement agencies that fall under it.<\/p>\n
The Republican-controlled House passed the DHS funding bill with the help of a handful of Democrats, days before 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed. Several Senate Democrats said after Pretti\u2019s death that they would not approve DHS funding, even if it means a partial government shutdown starting this weekend.<\/p>\n
Some members of Congress denied entry previously<\/p>\n
Democrats have criticized the Trump administration over their lack of access to ICE facilities.<\/p>\n
Minnesota Reps. Angie Craig, Kelly Morrison and Ilhan Omar were denied access to detainees at a federal building outside Minneapolis on Jan. 10. The Department of Homeland Security has said the three Democrats did not comply with a new policy to give facilities seven days\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n
The same policy was invoked to deny Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, from entering the Dilley facility and another in Pearsall, Texas, last week. Murphy said the denials keep Congress from fulfilling its constitutional and statutory responsibility to conduct oversight of executive branch facilities.<\/p>\n
A federal judge declined to intervene earlier this month, refusing to force the administration to comply with lawmakers\u2019 demands for improved access.<\/p>\n
Castro said detainees in Dilley were allowed by the administration \u2014 or its private contractor running the facility \u2014 to sign up to meet him and Crockett.<\/p>\n
After the visit, Castro posted a picture on social media of the meeting. In it, Liam is seen in his father\u2019s arms, with his eyes closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him,\u201d Castro posted on social media.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporter Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI would ask President Trump, who himself has grandkids who are of the age of some of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[490,31820,1724,17002,287,2899,58174,4119,27,29,28,1499,7533],"class_list":["post-142141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-general-news","tag-government-policy","tag-immigration","tag-legislation","tag-politics","tag-prisons","tag-protests-and-demonstrations","tag-schools","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-u-s-news","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}