DHS Secretary Mullin Defends ICE Deportation of 5-Year-Old After Democrat’s Criticism

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin pushed back Thursday against accusations from Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico regarding the deportation of a young child detained alongside his father by federal immigration enforcement agents. The exchange centered on the case of Victor Martinez Nieto and his 5-year-old son, Liam Tadeo, both of whom were removed from the United States on Tuesday following their detention in Austin earlier this month.

Talarico, seeking to challenge the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement strategy, characterized the incident as improper government overreach on Wednesday. The candidate noted that the boy had been scheduled to enter kindergarten this week and argued the child should have been in a classroom rather than in custody. “ICE kidnapped Liam Tadeo on his way to a soccer game with his dad,” Talarico wrote on social media, adding that the child had been “thrown in a prison camp hundreds of miles from home.”

Mullin countered that Talarico was withholding crucial details from public view. According to the secretary, the father requested that his son be deported alongside him rather than separated. Mullin stated that ICE policy permits parents to choose deportation with their children or designate another safe individual for their care. “ICE does NOT separate families,” Mullin wrote, emphasizing that both the father and son left the country together at the father’s request.

Both individuals were held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Martinez Nieto was apprehended by immigration officers in November 2025 and deported in February before illegally reentering the country, according to The Austin American-Statesman.