- United States
- Ohio
- Letter
Release Liam Tadeo now and close the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. A 5-year-old boy was supposed to start kindergarten this week. Instead, he's calling his mother from a detention facility in the desert, telling her he loves and misses her. This is not law enforcement — it's cruelty.
Liam and his father were stopped on the way to a soccer game. He is a child. Locking up children is not a border security strategy, and no amount of rebranding Dilley as a "family residential center" changes what it is: a prison for kids. Representative Casar has already called for Liam's release and flagged that ICE arrests in Austin have surged to three or four times their normal rate, including operations near churches and elementary schools. These are not targeted operations against dangerous criminals — they are sweeps that are terrorizing families and communities.
Every child detained at Dilley needs to be released. The facility needs to be shut down. I expect you to use every tool available — legislation, oversight, public pressure — to make that happen.