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Homeland Security Secretary responded to criticism from Texas Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico about the deportation of a young boy who was detained with his father by federal immigration authorities.
Victor Martinez Nieto and his 5-year-old son, Liam Tadeo, were both deported on Tuesday. The pair were detained by authorities in Austin, Texas, earlier this month while on their way to a soccer match.
On Wednesday, Talarico, who has highlighted the case in his criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda, said Tadeo, who was slated to start kindergarten this week, should have spent his first day of school in a classroom.
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Liam Tadeo, 5, was deported with his father after the pair were detained earlier this month while going to a soccer match in Texas. (James Talarico; Getty Images)
“ICE kidnapped Liam Tadeo on his way to a soccer game with his dad,” he wrote on X. “Liam should be in kindergarten. Instead, our government has thrown him in a prison camp hundreds of miles from home.”
On Thursday, Talarico posted that Liam had been deported.
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Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin speaks to reporters on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
Looking to set the record straight, Mullin said Talarico “won’t tell the American people the full story.” He said the boy was deported with Martinez Nieto at his father’s request.
“ICE does NOT separate families,” Mullin wrote. “Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. In this case, both the father and son were deported together.”
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Mullin noted that parents are responsible for what happens to their children, “just as any U.S. citizen parent who breaks the law is when they are arrested.”
The father and son were both held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico speaks during a press conference at the Hyatt Centric Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, on July 22, 2026. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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Digital has reached out to the family’s attorney. Martinez Nieto was arrested by immigration officers in November 2025 and deported in February. He later re-entered the United States illegally, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
