![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/BringLiamHome_DilleyICEDetentionProtest_ImmigrationEnforcement_CityHall_CastroTexasDemsPressConferen.jpeg\")
Community leaders hold signs of 5-year-old Liam Adrian Conejo Ramos ahead of a press conference organized by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro calling for his release at City Hall on Wednesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
A federal judge said this week that Ramos and his father can\u2019t be deported<\/a> because they have a pending immigration case that still needs to be adjudicated. <\/p>\n But Democratic lawmakers who recently toured the facility said it\u2019s full of children and families who have legal authority to be in the country, and yet are being held for months while the U.S. government tries to make its case against them.<\/p>\n They have no idea how long they\u2019ll be there, the lawmakers said, and some report having been offered cash bribes to self-deport.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing I wanted to know was, \u2018How many criminal convictions do y\u2019all have? How bad are these folks?’\u201d U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett<\/a> recalled of her conversations with facility staff during the visit. \u201c[They said] \u2018Oh, no, no, you can\u2019t be here and have a record.’\u201d<\/p>\n Crockett said that while the family detention facility existed before President Donald Trump took office, one employee told her that this administration\u2019s push to meet deportation numbers has dramatically changed the way it\u2019s being used.<\/p>\n \u201cThe difference is \u2026 they\u2019re trying to prosecute these cases while keeping people in custody,\u201d Crockett said. \u201cThat is not what they normally would do. That is what this administration has decided to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Accounts of the conditions<\/p>\n Democratic lawmakers\u2019 visit came just days after Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio) was also at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, sharing pictures that made life there look relatively calm.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be frank, it is better and in better condition than some of our schools here in San Antonio,\u201d Gonzales told the Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cAnd so there\u2019s a school, there\u2019s a church, there\u2019s a place for them to play soccer, a big cafeteria.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday outside of City Hall, however, lawmakers said Americans are being lied to about the conditions and the status of the detainees.<\/p>\n Crockett said they visited a classroom, but that the kids reported they weren\u2019t receiving any schooling. They had one set of clothing to wear during their stay, which their parents wash out at night and hung up to dry.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many innocent, precious children we talked to. We talked to a 16-year-old \u2026 That kid had about four younger siblings and his mom. They had been there for eight months,\u201d Crockett said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we walked in, they gave us a packet, and it said the average detention time was 28 days,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe didn\u2019t meet anybody who had been there for less than probably two months.\u201d<\/p>\n Castro said that Ramos was unfortunately just one of many the children and families withering away in the federal facility.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no criminals in Dilley,\u201d Castro said. \u201cDonald Trump talked about arresting, in his own words, \u2018criminal illegal aliens.\u2019 [But] you don\u2019t go to Dilley \u2014 a facility that right now has 1,100 people in it \u2014 if you\u2019ve committed a crime. All of those people suffering there, and languishing there in that trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n A shutdown over ICE?<\/p>\n Outside the detention center in Dilley, protestors have been pressuring lawmakers from both parties to do something about the growing number of families detained. Eventually on Wednesday,\u00a0state troopers used pepper spray<\/a>\u00a0to disperse the crowd. <\/p>\n This evening on the West Side of San Antonio, more community members gathered at a different ICE rally organized by Castro. Over the past couple of weeks, high school students across the city have staged walkouts.<\/p>\n And so far the optics of arresting children seems to be moving even some Republicans who\u2019ve stood by Trump until now, state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio) said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last 48 hours, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told the president<\/a>, \u2018You\u2019re losing the narrative on immigration,\u201d Martinez Fischer said. \u201cNow we have a governor of this state who has now said we need to \u2018recalibrate the tactics\u2019 of [ICE]<\/a> after [officers killed two people in] Minnesota.’\u201d<\/p>\n One of the deaths was an ICE protestor who was\u00a0shot in her car<\/a>\u00a0on Jan . 7 while trying to drive away from officers approaching her. The other\u00a0was an intensive care nurse<\/a>\u00a0who appeared to be coming to someone\u2019s aid when ICE officers pushed him to the ground and shot him on Jan. 24. Both were captured on video.<\/p>\n But U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Austin) said the fight now turns to Capitol Hill, where just days ago it seemed like Congress would pass the spending bills it needed to keep the government funded after the end of this month.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769688985_850_BringLiamHome_DilleyICEDetentionProtest_ImmigrationEnforcement_CityHall_CastroTexasDemsPressConferen.jpeg\")
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro spoke about his visit with 5-year-old Liam Adrian Conejo Ramos and his father who are being detained at Dilley Detention Center during a press conference at City Hall on Wednesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769688985_183_BringLiamHome_DilleyICEDetentionProtest_ImmigrationEnforcement_CityHall_CastroTexasDemsPressConferen.jpeg\")
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar speaks at a press conference at San Antonio\u2019s City Hall on Wednesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n