Democrats visit 5-year-old detained in Minneapolis, in case that has stirred anger over ICE actions

DILLEY, Texas (AP) — Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett on Wednesday visited a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father at a Texas federal detention center, in a case that has stirred anger over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and given fuel to Democrats and others who are pushing back against ICE’s actions.

Castro said the lawmakers met with Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, for about 30 minutes in a courtroom inside the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, near San Antonio. Outside the facility, Texas state police officers confronted protesters who demonstrated in support of the detainees inside.

Liam’s father said the boy has been sleeping a lot, asking about his mom and his classmates and said he wants to go back to school, Castro said.

“I would ask President Trump, who himself has grandkids who are of the age of some of the kids we met with today, to think of what it would be like for his grandkids to be behind bars,” Castro said during a news conference later Wednesday, where he and other Democrats called for Liam and other detainees to be released.

The meeting was part of Democrats’ midterm-election-year effort to conduct congressional oversi...