Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has pushed back against criticism from Texas Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, who claimed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "kidnapped" a 5-year-old boy deported with his father. Mullin stated that Talarico was not presenting the full story and that the child, Liam Tadeo, was deported with his father, Victor Martinez Nieto, at his father's request.
Talarico had criticized the deportation, stating that Liam should have been in kindergarten rather than detained. He described the situation as the government throwing the child "in a prison camp hundreds of miles from home." Mullin countered that ICE does not separate families and that parents are given the option to be removed with their children or to designate a safe person to care for them. In this case, Mullin asserted, both father and son were deported together.
"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," Mullin added.
The father and son had been detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. According to reports, Martinez Nieto was initially arrested by immigration officers in November 2025 and deported in February. He later re-entered the United States illegally. Liam Tadeo was detained with his father earlier this month while on their way to a soccer match in Austin, Texas.