NERMEEN SHAIKH: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Nermeen Shaikh, with Amy Goodman.

Democrats have reportedly begun tentative negotiations with the White House just days before funding for Department of Homeland Security is set to expire on Saturday, threatening with another partial government shutdown. Democrat lawmakers are calling for reforms on federal immigration enforcement as part of a deal to negotiate more funding for DHS. Among their demands are requiring federal immigration agents have judicial warrants when carrying out raids, an end to racial profiling and new guidelines for use of force, though many progressives have argued this falls short, demanding agencies like ICE be dismantled or abolished.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement late Monday Republicans shared an outline of counterproposals that, quote, “included neither details nor legislative text. The initial GOP response is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct.”

The negotiations came in the wake of the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, killed just weeks apart in January by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Last week, President Trump signed the consolidated funding bill hours after it passed the House, ending a partial government shutdown. Tthe legislation included only a two-week extension of funding for DHS.

AMY GOODMAN: This all comes as the heads of ICE, Todd Lyons; Customs and Border Protection, Rodney Scott; and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, are set to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee today.

For more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Congressmember Joaquin Castro, Democratic representative from Texas whose district includes San Antonio. Congressmember Castro recently visited ICE South Texas jail in Dilley, where he met with 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his dad Adrian. He helped free Liam and his father from Dilley, escorting them back home to Minneapolis.

Congressmember Castro, welcome back to Democracy Now! If you can talk about your experiences in Dilley, the number of children — it’s shocking — and hearing families yelling “¡Libertad! ¡Libertad!” “Liberty!” from the jail, and how that relates to the upcoming vote? I mean, the Department of Homeland Security will, what, run out of — not run out of funds, because they have an enormous amount of funds, but you have to vote on whether or not to continue their budget.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Well, I was in Dilley in late January and then back again to help release Liam Ramos and his dad. And the best way I would describe the Dilley facility is that it’s a kind of trailer prison. There are 1,100 people there. None of them have committed any crime, because you’re not sent to Dilley if you’ve committed a crime. And they’re in 12-person rooms, multiple families, up to 12 people in a single room. There’s cameras everywhere. Their movements are controlled. It’s like prison, where when you come in, you leave your belongings. They’re inventoried. When you walk out, as when I walked out with Liam, they give you all your stuff back.

And what I saw with Liam was what I saw with a lot of the kids. They’ve been traumatized by the experience. He wasn’t eating very well. He was sleeping a lot. He was despondent, missing home, missing his mom. That’s the case not only for him, but for a lot of the kids that are there. And I think the most shocking thing to me going through there was when I asked one of the folks who worked there what the youngest person there was, and he told me eventually that it was a 2-month-old baby, who was in, basically, that trailer prison.

And so, you know, we asked people also — we were trying to get a sense for how do these people end up here. We asked them how many were seeking asylum, how many had court cases, how many had used the CBP One app, which was supposed to be an orderly and efficient way to apply for asylum and then come into the United States, rather than rushing the border. And there were a big chunk of people who had used that app, for example. And so you have a lot of people who did things the right way and now are shellshocked to find themselves in a trailer prison in rural Texas and on the verge of being deported, even though they followed the government’s advice for how they should apply for asylum and come into the United States.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Congressmember Castro, if you could talk about, first of all, how Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been collaborating with Trump in these efforts? And you’ve called, in fact, for ICE to be disbanded, and have also —

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: I have.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: — joined demands for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached. So, if you could talk about that?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: There really is no separation at this point between Governor Abbott in Texas and Donald Trump and the federal ICE. The reason I say that is because for the first time in Texas’s history, Greg Abbott has embedded, has deployed the Texas National Guard into detention centers, including into Dilley, where kids are imprisoned. And so, he’s having the Texas National Guard do back-office functions related to deportation. So, what that has done is freed up more ICE officers to go into the streets of Minneapolis, to go to Chicago, to go to Los Angeles, to go even into San Antonio, where ICE agents, just a few days ago, basically barged into a home without presenting any warrant at all and without explaining what they were there for. And so, Governor Abbott is a supporter of this, he’s enabled it, and he should be asked about that.

And with respect to the budget, I guess folks have to understand that in the, quote-unquote, “Big Beautiful Bill” not too long ago, the Department of Homeland Security got 150 billion extra dollars, above and beyond their annual budget. ICE, by itself, got $75 billion extra money. So, nobody wants a government shutdown, even for a single agency, because if there was a shutdown, it would only be the Department of Homeland Security. But money is not an issue for them. They’ve got plenty of money, well beyond their annual budget. So, I hope that Republicans will agree to what I would consider, and I think most Americans consider, basic safeguards that help protect constitutional rights and human rights of Americans. But right now Republicans, the only thing that they’re willing to do is to follow Donald Trump, and they’re stubbornly refusing at this point to do anything else.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Castro, there are also Democrats who joined with the Republicans. So, what do you say to your fellow Democrats? And also, as we talk about Liam Ramos and his family, you’ve said the Trump administration has filed for the expedited deportation of Liam and his family. People might have thought this family, you know, the situation is done; they’re together again in Minneapolis. DHS said on Friday it’s seeking a deportation order for Liam? They have a pending asylum case. If you can address both, Democrats in Congress and then the family?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Well, to my Democratic colleagues, I would ask folks to consider, first, visiting these detention centers, which are actually prisons. I went to another one in Pearsall, Texas, called the South Texas ICE Processing Center, which is adults only. But if you go in there, it is a prison prison. And again, the vast majority of people have committed no crime at all, and yet are sitting in this prison. But most of all, I would ask them to consider what’s going out on in the streets. Talk to the families that have been affected, the individuals that have been affected, by really what has been a lawlessness by ICE, going into homes with no warrant, going into businesses with no warrant, roughing people up in the streets, obviously killing two Americans. And I think, you know, we can’t act like it’s business as usual and continue funding them with their annual budget when they’re operating beyond the law.

With respect to Liam’s case, you know, Donald Trump has this obsession or this grudge against certain things. In Georgia, for example, he continues to look for the ballots that he believes cost him the election in 2020. In the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, he keeps trying to deport this man again, even though Kilmar’s back in the United States and hasn’t committed any other violations. And it looks to be the same thing with Liam Ramos, as even though you’ve got a 5-year-old kid who’s already been deeply traumatized by this, this experience of imprisonment, he’s going after him again and picking on him in the same way that he bullies other people. And, unfortunately, that’s what we’re seeing now. I’m glad that the judge, a few days ago, granted a continuance to the family to make their asylum claim, and I hope that, ultimately, they’ll be able to stay in the United States.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And before we go, Congressmember Castro, we wanted to get your response to the latest news about Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender. If you could respond to the latest news, Ghislaine Maxwell pleading the Fifth during House Oversight Committee hearings yesterday, and what — where you think this is going to go?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO: Well, I saw, yes, the news yesterday that Ghislaine Maxwell pleaded the Fifth. And the Fifth Amendment is an important constitutional right. At the same time, the evidence seems to be overwhelming that she and so many others, elite members of society, from government, business, academia and other industries, were, essentially, operating beyond the law and abusing young children.

And I don’t mean to be glib by this reference, but movies at this point is the only way that I can describe what we’re reading and seeing. This really seems to be some kind of cross between Eyes Wide Shut and the movie Hostel. The reason I say that is because there are references to torture, to the mass purchase of sulfuric acid. You know, it’s clear that there was, what appears to me, some kind of evil club of people who were invited to participate in this ugly debauchery.

And ultimately, I will say this. I hope that it happens now. I’m glad that there are 3 million documents that have been released. Everything should be released, except for the victims’ names. I believe that all the other names of people involved should be released, should be unredacted. Whether they’re Republican or Democrat, whatever their income or their station in life, if they did something wrong, based on the — what we see in those files, they should be held accountable. So, whether it’s now or when Democrats take over the House, I believe, next January, there has to be a rigorous and serious effort to hold people accountable for their actions — subpoenas, bringing people in, making sure that folks are held accountable for what they did.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Representative Joaquin Castro, thank you so much for joining us, Democratic congressmember from Texas.

When we come back, we’ll look at ProPublica’s new investigation, “The Children of Dilley,” and hear the voices of two children being held there. Back in 30 seconds.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: That’s “Body Electric” by Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff, performing in our Democracy Now! studio. And again, to see them and Michael Stipe and Wynton Marsalis and Angela Davis and Naomi Klein at the 30th anniversary event celebrating Democracy Now! on February 23rd, go to democracynow.org.