cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7463074
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/22864
An uprising broke out at an immigrant jail in southern Texas on Saturday, with around 1,000 immigrants detained in the facility — many of them children — chanting “Libertad” and “Let us go,” according to an attorney who witnessed the event. The protest took place at South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, which closed in 2024 but was reopened by the Trump administration this year to detain immigrant families.
On Saturday, facility personnel abruptly ordered immigration attorneys who were present to leave, saying “an incident” had taken place. Michigan-based immigration attorney Eric Lee, who was among those forced to leave, said he could hear shouting that sounded “high-pitched” and “urgent,” indicating that he believed there were “hundreds of children” taking part in the uprising.
Lee later said his clients told him the protest began in response to the treatment of Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old from Minnesota who was abducted, along with his father, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last week. The two were transferred to the jail, more than 1,300 miles from home, shortly after being detained.
School officials familiar with the incident say that an adult living in Liam’s home had begged for ICE agents to let Liam stay after his father was taken into custody.
School officials also said that Liam was used as “bait” by agents, in an attempt to get other people inside the house to exit willingly.
Aerial photos of the Texas facility during the protest, taken by The Associated Press, show parents and children holding signs that read, “Libertad para los niños,” or “Freedom for the kids.” Participants in the uprising also reportedly chanted “Libertad,” and “Let us go.”
“The message we want to send is for them to treat us with dignity and according to the law,” said Maria Alejandra Montoya Sanchez, a 31-year-old who is being detained in the jail, speaking to The AP after the protest. “We’re immigrants, with children, not criminals.”
Montoya Sanchez has been imprisoned at the facility with her 9-year-old daughter since October.
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