DILLEY, Texas (AP) — Texas state police deployed chemical irritants toward protesters Wednesday outside a federal detention facility where a Democratic congressman met with a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father whose case has stirred anger over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas met with the family at the South Texas Family Residential Center, where outside a large group of protesters gathered in support of hundreds of detainees being held at the facility. Protesters banged drums, chanted and carried signs that included “Children are not criminals!”
As protesters moved closer to the facility in the small town of Dilley, Texas state police officers arrived on a school bus and shouted instructions for the crowd to move back. Some of the officers then deployed pepper balls, dispersing the crowd.
Castro later posted a picture on social media of his visit with 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias.
“I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him,” Castro posted on social media.
He and other Texas Democrats were expected to discuss the visit at a news conference later Wednesday.
The Texas Department of Public Safety did not immediately return an email seeking comment about the confrontation with protesters.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who is running for U.S. Senate, had also planned to visit the facility Wednesday. The visits are part of Democrats’ midterm-election year effort to conduct congressional oversight and highlight the consequences of the President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Administration officials have previously denied some members of Congress entry to federal detention facilities, though Castro said detainees in Dilley have been allowed by the administration — or its private contractor running the facility — to sign up to meet him and Crockett.
Some members of Congress denied entry previously
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took the boy and his father into custody 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.
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.
Democrats have criticized the Trump administration over their lack of access to ICE facilities.
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 notice.
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.
A federal judge earlier this month declined to step in and force the administration to yield to lawmakers’ demands for better access.
Democrats looking for ways to push back
Castro, a prominent member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accused Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a recent video of running a “lawless” immigration enforcement operation that is effectively a “bounty hunter organization.”
Like Castro, Crockett and her Senate Democratic primary rival, state Rep. James Talarico, are among the Democrats calling for Noem’s impeachment. Crockett also voted against a pending appropriations bill that would fund Noem’s department and the immigration enforcement agencies that fall under it.
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’s death that they would not approve DHS funding, even if it means a partial government shutdown starting this weekend.
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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporter Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas contributed to this report.
