United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 5-year-old Liam Tadeo and his father to Mexico on Tuesday after the father agreed to leave the U.S. rather than remain in custody with his son at the Dilley Immigration Detention Center in Texas, the family’s attorney told Scripps News on Wednesday.
The boy’s father had pleaded with ICE officers during a traffic stop earlier this month in Austin, Texas, to release his son to his mother, family attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told Scripps News on Monday.
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The Department of Homeland Security says parents arrested by ICE can choose to bring their children with them to detention or leave them with "a safe person the parent designates,” but that option wasn’t given to Nieto, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
“The claim that ‘parents have a choice’ between remaining detained with their children and having ICE place their children with a ‘safe person’ is deeply misleading, particularly in this case,” she said. “Liam’s father begged ICE to release his five-year-old son to his mother—the same release granted to his three-year-old cousin and his uncle on the side of the road. ICE refused.”
Video circulated online showed Liam Tadeo in tears while being detained Aug. 16 beside his father, seen in handcuffs. They were on their way to a soccer game, family members have said.
DHS said Nieto had been deported back to Mexico in February before later returning to the U.S. without authorization.
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Liam Tadeo’s mother had released a statement calling for the release of her son and his father.
“He was supposed to start kindergarten this week, and instead he is being held in an immigration detention center,” she said. “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.”
