Boy detained by ICE ‘is ill and keeps asking about his backpack and hat’
A Texas Congressman has given a heartbreaking update on the little boy who was detained by ICE outside of his school.
Joaquin Castro, a Texas Congressman, went to visit little Liam Conejo Ramos and his father in ICE detention a week after a photo of Liam sparked international outrage.
Wearing a bright blue bunny hat with a Spider-Man backpack strapped to his shoulders and a terrified look on his face, the photo made headlines around the world.
Today, Castro shared a photo of the young boy, seemingly exhausted in his father’s arms at Dilley detention centre in Texas.
Castro added: ‘Liam said that he misses his classmates and his family and wants to be back at school.
‘He keeps asking about that hat and that backpack that are in the picture. I think they took that from him.’
This week, a judge in Texas issued an order saying Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, can’t be deported until their legal proceedings are finished.
But concerns over their welfare in the meantime have been raised, with NBC News anchor Geoff Bennett saying that Liam’s father said his son has been ‘depressed’ since arriving at the facility.
‘Representative Castro said he was concerned that Liam appeared lethargic and that he hadn’t been eating well,’ Bennett said.
‘Reports indicate that food served to families at Dilley, including young children, has contained mould and worms.’
Protesters have been gathering outside the facility in Dilley, Texas, campaigning for the release of Liam and his father.
They were met with chemical irritants, prompting protesters and journalists to flee the area.
When were Liam and his father detained?
Liam and his dad, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were detained by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on February 20.
Video obtained by CBS News shows the boy being taken from the driveway after just arriving home from preschool.
Bystanders screamed and honked their horns as Liam was marched out by an agent holding his Spider-Man backpack.
School bosses and Trump administration officials have offered conflicting accounts of the arrest made in snow-covered Columbia Heights.
US Vice President JD Vance insisted that ICE agents were left with no other choice but to detain the boy.
He told reporters: ‘What are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?
‘Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?’
Liam and Adrian were taken more than 1,300 miles south to an immigration detention centre in Dilley, Texas.
Vance claimed the boy was taken by agents because his father fled the scene.
He said: ‘The five-year-old was not arrested … his dad was an illegal alien and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran.’
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