STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Senate Democrats have a list of demands before they're willing to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security, and there's a deadline coming up. The demands include new rules for using force. Federal agents have been seen on video killing two Americans in Minneapolis in recent days. In a few moments, we'll hear from one of the Democrats, Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. We begin with a different sort of protest against ICE policies.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Police with riot gear confronted nearly 200 protesters on Wednesday in South Texas. They were outside an ICE family detention center.
INSKEEP: The protesters want the release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father. They were detained in Minnesota last week and taken there.
FADEL: Yeah. Ramos is the little boy in that now iconic image wearing a bunny-ear hat and being led off by immigration agents. Now, Joey Palacios with Texas Public Radio was there covering that protest and joins us now. Hey, Joey. What happened?
JOEY PALACIOS, BYLINE: Good morning. So this was at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. That's about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio, and as the name says, it's for detained immigrant families. Now, this protest that happened, it was peaceful. There was chanting. There are people holding signs that said abolish ICE or bring Liam home. And here, there were people of all ages. It started at a city park, and they marched at the front gate of the center that was about two miles away. There they were met by a handful of state troopers, and behind those state troopers, about 60 feet away, were about a dozen masked ICE agents. Gabrielle Felix (ph) was one of the protesters who came because of Liam Ramos.
GABRIELLE FELIX: I think it's absolutely disgusting. I mean, he's 5 years old, and they took him from his home in Minneapolis and pretty much brought him down here.
PALACIOS: And then all of a sudden, as these folks were at the gate of this center, a school bus drove up, and it was full of state troopers in riot gear. They formed a line and then began moving towards protesters, and there was some pushing back and forth. And then there was, like, this pop, pop, pop, and they started to use pepper balls to disperse the crowd. There were more - there was another loud pop and a lot of white smoke. And it started to hit me and our producer Sam as well as protesters and other media there, and it was hard to breathe. We couldn't see. I mean, Leila, it was, like, breathing hot sauce. It was not pleasant. And in the end, Texas DPS said that two people were arrested for resisting arrests and interfering with public duties.
FADEL: Now, Congressman Joaquin Castro from San Antonio toured the facility yesterday and met with Liam Ramos and his father. What did he say about what he saw?
PALACIOS: Castro visited the detention center earlier in the day with Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, and they met with Liam Ramos and his father for about 30 minutes. And Castro said the boy appeared physically and emotionally affected by his detention.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOAQUIN CASTRO: He was lying in his father's arms. His father said that Liam has been very depressed since he's been at Dilley, that he hasn't been eating well. His father said that Liam has been sleeping a lot, that he's been asking about his family, his mom and his classmates and saying that he wants to go be back in school with his classmates.
PALACIOS: Castro said the family entered the U.S. legally and are waiting for their asylum case. And earlier this week on Monday, Liam Ramos' mother in Minnesota said that her son is getting sick from the quality of food in the facility.
FADEL: So, Joey, what are ICE officials saying about this case?
PALACIOS: So ICE didn't respond to our request for comment, but the Department of Homeland Security has said that the child was taken into custody after his father fled an encounter with agents. DHS says agents followed federal law and standard enforcement procedures in the case, but we should note that bystanders and school board officials who witnessed the incident have contradicted DHS's version of events. Now, a federal judge in San Antonio ruled this week that Liam Ramos and his father cannot be removed or transferred from the facility while the court case for their release continues. It also pauses any attempt to deport them.
FADEL: Joey Palacios with Texas Public Radio. Thank you for your reporting.
PALACIOS: Thanks, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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