AUSTIN, TX – Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us, issued the following statement today following the detention of five-year-old Austin resident Liam Tadeo and his father by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and their transfer to the immigrant child and family jail at Dilley, TX:

“Five-year-old Liam should be starting kindergarten this week. He should be playing soccer, learning alongside his classmates and coming home to his family at the end of the day. Instead, after being detained with his father on their way to a soccer game in Austin, he is now incarcerated at an immigrant children and family jail.

“ICE enforcement and detention have surged to historic levels. Take a minute to think about what that says about the churn and the scale of children we are subjecting to detention. Liam is not the first five year old jailed at Dilley. He is not even the first five year old named Liam jailed at Dilley. More than 43,000 people were booked into ICE detention in June, followed by more than 46,000 in July. Congress has poured unprecedented resources into this system with ICE receiving over $113B for detention enforcement and expansion, paid for by cutting hundreds of billions from investments Americans desperately need like health care. Those choices have consequences. More arrests, more detention capacity and more aggressive enforcement mean more families swept into the system, and more children like Liam and others are paying the price.

“Liam and his father must be released immediately. Dilley should be cleared and closed, and family detention must end. Members of Congress, attorneys, medical professionals and families have repeatedly raised serious concerns about access to clean drinking water, adequate food, medical care, sanitation and education at Dilley. No five-year-old belongs in immigration detention, and no amount of additional funding can make incarcerating children and families humane. We should work to claw back these hundreds of billions going to DHS and immigration enforcement and ultimately build the humane immigration system best for us all.” 

Liam’s mother said: “My son is only five years old; he was supposed to start kindergarten this week, and instead he is being held in an immigration detention center. He should be in school, playing soccer and at home with his family. I am asking ICE to release Liam and his father immediately so that our family can be together again.”

U.S. Representative Greg Casar (D-TX-35) said: “I have visited Dilley and I know: no child belongs there. Liam should be starting Kindergarten, not trapped in a desert prison camp. Liam and his father should be released immediately.”

U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20) said: “ICE denied my request to visit with Liam and his father at Dilley. Five-year-old Liam belongs at home with his family and in a kindergarten classroom, not in immigration detention. His detention is another devastating example of why Dilley must be shut down and why our government must end the detention of children and families. I have seen firsthand the conditions that children and families are being subjected to at Dilley, and no child should be held there. When I visit Dilley next week, I expect to see Liam and his father. Liam and his father should be released immediately.”