The detention of a 5-year-old Texas boy on his way to a soccer game has left him spending his first week of kindergarten inside an immigration facility. Liam Tadeo and his father were detained following a traffic stop in Austin on August 16 and subsequently taken to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, the boy’s mother told the outlet N+ Univision. The case has renewed scrutiny of the Trump administration’s detention of children alongside parents during immigration enforcement and has drawn criticism from the family and Texas lawmakers, particularly because, instead of starting school, Tadeo remained detained with his father.

Father previously deported, DHS says

In a statement to Newsweek, the Department of Homeland Security identified Tadeo’s father as Victor Martinez Nieto, a Mexican national whom ICE arrested during the August 16 vehicle stop in Austin. DHS said Nieto first entered the U.S. illegally around March 10, 2022, near Laredo, Texas. According to the agency, ICE arrested him in Hutto, Texas, on November 15, 2025. Nieto accepted voluntary departure and was removed on February 12, 2026, before subsequently reentering the country at an unknown time and place, DHS said.

The agency said Nieto and Tadeo remain together at Dilley pending his removal. DHS also said parents can either leave the country with their children or designate a safe caregiver, describing the policy as consistent with previous administrations.

Liam Tadeo reportedly called his mother from detention

During an interview with N+ Univision, Tadeo’s mother, who asked not to be identified, said her son called her from the detention center and told her that he loved and missed her. Video circulating online appears to show Tadeo crying as his father was arrested and escorted into a vehicle by officers. His aunt Patricia Resendiz said in a GoFundMe launched to cover legal costs that the boy was supposed to begin kindergarten this week. “The detention of Liam and my brother-in-law was cruel; they are not criminals — they were simply on their way to a soccer match. Liam is a beautiful, intelligent and big-hearted little boy. My sister is devastated, and so are we,” Resendiz wrote.

Texas lawmaker demands release

The case drew criticism from Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat representing the state’s 35th Congressional District. “ICE just arrested a 5-year-old on his way to a soccer game in Austin. His name is Liam, just like the little boy from Minnesota. He should be in kindergarten this week. Instead he’s in a trailer prison in the desert. Release Liam. Release these kids. Close the Dilley children’s prison,” Casar wrote on X.

Case draws comparisons to another detained 5-year-ol

Tadeo’s detention has drawn comparisons to Liam Conejo Ramos, another 5-year-old detained with his father at Dilley. Ramos and Adrian Conejo Arias were apprehended in Minnesota on January 20 after the child returned from preschool.

Images of Ramos wearing a blue knitted bunny hat and carrying a Spider-Man backpack were widely circulated and fueled criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign. DHS said agents were targeting his father, alleging that he fled and left the child behind, while school officials and the family’s representatives disputed that account. Ramos and his father were eventually transferred to Dilley before a federal judge ordered their release.