Dilley ICE Jail Is “Commodification of Child Imprisonment,” says Joaquin Castro
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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.”
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.
I’ve Seen Prison Conditions Kill. That’s What’s Happening at Delaney Hall.
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........
