Dilley ICE Jail Is “Commodification of Child Imprisonment,” says Joaquin Castro

Calls to shut down the ICE jail known as the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas continue to grow following the detention and deportation of 5-year-old Liam Tadeo and his father Victor Martinez Nieto to Mexico. According to the family’s lawyer, Nieto had begged officers to let his son go as they were arrested on their way to soccer practice in Austin last week. Nieto wanted Liam released to his mother, but ICE reportedly refused. The arrest happened just days before Liam was set to start kindergarten.

Texas Democratic Congressmember Joaquin Castro previously attempted to visit Liam and his father at Dilley but was denied by ICE. Last month, Castro led a group of more than 110 Democratic House members in a nationwide call to end family detention and shut down Dilley. “You have kids as young as 2 months old who have been in prison there,” says Castro. “And every child that’s put in there — every woman, every person — there are American investors who are making money off of their imprisonment.”

Castro notes that children are not supposed to be held in detention centers for more than 20 days. “I’ve met with kids who have been there three months, seven months, 10 months. And so, this is really abusive, and it’s traumatizing a lot of kids.”

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: In a moment, we’re going to be going to Nepal to talk about the massive devastation from a glacier that broke off. Now at least 2,000 people are dead or missing. But first, we go to Texas.

Calls to shut down the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas continue to grow following the detention and deportation of Victor Martinez Nieto, along with his 5-year-old son Liam. The arrest happened just days before Liam was set to start kindergarten. They’ve both been deported to Mexico. According to the family’s lawyer, Liam’s dad begged officers to let his son go as they were arrested on their way to soccer practice in Austin last week. His father wanted Liam to be released to his mom, but ICE reportedly refused.

We go now to San Antonio, Texas, where we’re joined by Democratic Congressmember Joaquin Castro, who requested to visit Liam and his father in custody, but ICE denied the request. Last month, Congressmember Castro led a group of more than 110 Democratic House members in a nationwide call to end the immigration jail in Dilley. He’s joining us now from a car in San Antonio on his way to a meeting.

Congressmember Castro, we thank you for taking these minutes to be with us. Talk about what you’re demanding. Today, you’re headed to Dilley once again.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Yeah, great to be with y’all.

This will be my ninth inspection of Dilley this year. And I join 110 other Democrats in calling for the United States government to shut down the Dilley detention center. It is — to me, it represents the commodification of child imprisonment. You have kids as young as 2 months old who have been in prison there. And every child that’s put in there — every woman, every person — there are American investors who are making money off of their imprisonment, but most especially the children. So, I got asked by some of ICE leadership to meet with them at Dilley, and I’m going to go do that this morning.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Congressman, The Texas Tribune reported earlier this month that immigrant children are held in Dilley five times longer than a court order allows. Can you talk about that situation, especially the case of Liam Tadeo, the 5-year-old boy, and his father, Victor Martinez Nieto?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Yeah, I tried to visit with Liam and his father last Friday and got his mother’s permission to meet with him, and still, ICE refused to let me meet with him. I then told them that I wanted to visit with Liam and his father today during my inspection, and they, of course, deported him in the last few days. And so, this is an agency that has become very abusive, that has absolutely gone rogue and that should be disbanded.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Congressman, could you comment also about how a a judge has blocked Minnesota’s bid to extradite Christian Castro, an ICE agent accused of firing his gun and wounding a Venezuelan man in the leg?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Yeah, absolutely. You know, and to finish up on your last question, there’s something known as the Flores settlement agreement, that says that children should only be held in these detention centers for up to 20 days. And ICE right now is going well over that limit. I’ve met with kids who have been there three months, seven months, 10 months. And so, this is really abusive, and it’s traumatizing a lot of kids.

With respect to Christian Castro, who was in the Rio Grande Valley, he was up in Minnesota, was one of the ICE agents from Texas up in Minnesota. And just so we understand what he did, he shot into a closed door of a house where there were six people, including children, and ended up shooting a man. And then, on top of that, he lied about it and got caught. And so, the Texas Rangers, when he came back to Texas, arrested him. And he was in jail awaiting extradition at the request of Minnesota. Governor Greg Abbott, who’s one of the most corrupt governors in the country, refused to do that based purely on politics. And so, unfortunately, that agent was released yesterday from jail and is presumably in Texas, but is also a flight risk.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressman Castro, we also want to ask about yet another case. Earlier this year, you nominated David Garcia to the U.S. Naval Academy. His mother, Maria, is now jailed at Dilley. ICE took her into custody during her green card review. You’re demanding her immediate release. What can you tell us about her?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Yeah, I mean, you know, the Trump administration, it’s clear, is also targeting military families. We’ve seen this kind of story come up now several times.

David Garcia is an outstanding young man from San Antonio in my congressional district, and I nominated him to the U.S. Naval Academy. And he’s there right now. Unfortunately, his mom had been granted parole in place and showed up for her green card interview, and when she did, ICE took her. And now she’s sitting in that Dilley trailer prison as her son is at the U.S. Naval Academy as we speak.

And so, I’ve been in contact with ICE. I’m working on his mom Maria’s case. And, you know, I’m hoping to see her today, but we were still working out getting all of the privacy and permission forms that we need. But, you know, that’s the thing. You’ve got this young man who is serving his country, who absolutely represents the best of us, his mom that was doing everything right, as they say, and still Donald Trump and his administration, with the help of governors like Greg Abbott, are targeting them.

AMY GOODMAN: And then, also let me ask you about this story that has gotten some attention. The father of the U.S. Navy sailor now in his ninth month of deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln — the father was detained by ICE recently. He’s since been released, but the apprehension of Luis Manuel Aviles in Key West, Florida, is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to end immigration protections for the families and relatives of U.S. service members. Your response to his son, Joshua Aviles? Remember, I mean, what they have been through on the USS Abraham Lincoln has been unbelievable.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Right.

AMY GOODMAN: And here, he’s gone through that. Then his father is detained. He writes on social media, “This is heartbreaking for me. I don’t know how I can mentally continue working 12+ hour days knowing my dad is somewhere, possibly being treated like a criminal. My dad’s only ‘crime’ was coming to this country to give my siblings and me a better life.” There was public outcry. His father was released.

And then you have the story of another active-duty U.S. soldier whose wife was deported to Honduras. Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, the wife of Army Sergeant Hedar Leonel Turcios Juárez and mother of their 6-year-old daughter, was deported Monday. She had left 10 years ago from Honduras due to violent crime in the country. At least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty military member to be removed from the United States, with more than 50 cases of immediate family of U.S. service members placed in federal immigration detention, according to the Associated Press. What are you calling for, Congressmember Castro?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Well, most of all, I’m calling on the Trump administration to stop targeting military families and the relatives of service members, to stop targeting them. These are folks who are honorably serving our country. And at a minimum — and their families, again, are people who have not committed any crimes, have not done anything wrong. They should be granted those protections. And, you know, so, it’s absolutely shameful and disgusting that Stephen Miller and Donald Trump and these folks are going after their family members.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And finally, Congressman, I wanted to ask you also — it’s been two months since the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, the 52-year-old Mexican father of three U.S. citizen sons who was killed by ICE agents as he was commuting to work. Has there been any update in that? We understand that a possible new witness has come forward?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Yeah, my understanding is the Harris County DA, you know, has compiled a lot of evidence and a lot of the facts surrounding the case. And from what I understand, they may be close to, you know — I think they’re bringing witnesses in to a grand jury and, hopefully, close to an indictment.

You know, I said early on that when ICE, when law enforcement, when they have the facts on their side, when it’s clear from the video evidence that somebody pulled out a gun and was trying to harm them, when they saved somebody from a flooding car successfully, you know, when the evidence supports their case, they tend to put that evidence out, the video evidence out right away. Here, ICE did not put out a single, single second of video evidence. And to me, that was strong — a strong suggestion that they understand that their ICE agents did wrong. And so, I hope that those folks will be held accountable.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressman Joaquin Castro, thank you so much for being with us. You can get out of your car and go to your meeting now. Democratic congressman from Texas representing San Antonio, calling for the Dilley immigration jail to be shut down.

Coming up, we go to Nepal, where a devastating flood from a collapsed glacier has led to hundreds of dead and well over a thousand people missing. We’ll speak with a climate expert. Stay with us.