The controversy over the immigration control tactics of the Donald Trump administration holds a new focal point of attention today in the United States: the child Liam Conejo, sent with his father to a detention centre in Texas.

Members of the federal Congress demanded the immediate release of Liam, aged five, and his father, Adrián Conejo, originally from Ecuador, who have been in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since 20 January.

Castro, a member of the House of Representatives for San Antonio, warned that Liam’s case is emblematic of the inhumanity of the immigrant detention system in this country.

The legislator, together with his Capitol colleague Jasmine Crockett, from Dallas, demanded this Wednesday the immediate release of father and son.

The photographs of federal authorities when they detain the little boy in a neighbourhood of Minneapolis; his frightened eyes, a backpack on his back and a blue winter hat quickly became trending on social media.

According to local press reports, the congressmen met yesterday with the family, who entered the United States legally through an application from the previous administration called CBP One, which allowed asylum seekers to settle after waiting months for an appointment, Castro stated.

«His father said that Liam has been sleeping a lot, that he has been asking about his family, his mother and his classmates, and saying that he wants to go back to school,» recounted Castro, assuring the family that «most of America wants Liam to be freed.»

However, the congressman admitted that «the sad tragedy of all this is that Liam is emblematic of the inhumanity of our (immigrant) detention system.»

Castro commented that they met with dozens of families held in the Texas centre, including the parents of a baby only two months old, and spoke with other children under five who confessed to them that they were not receiving an education. Some had been imprisoned for up to eight months.

Federal officials indicated that no detainee in Dilley was accused of crimes beyond immigration violations, which are a civil matter.

The transfer of Liam and his father to the South Texas Family Residential Centre placed the country’s only authorised family detention facility back in the crosshairs. It was closed during Joe Biden’s term (2021-2025), but Trump reopened it last year.

The Texas Tribune reported that dozens of detained immigrant families protested over the weekend chanting «Freedom,» or «Let us go» and continued the previous day, when Castro and Crockett visited the site.

Hundreds of religious and trade union leaders, activists and Texas residents marched in Dilley demanding the release not only of Liam and his father, but of all detainees.