A fight over the deportation of a 5-year-old Texas boy and his father has escalated into a public back-and-forth between U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico.

Talarico drew attention to the case Wednesday after posting about Liam Tadeo, a 5-year-old who was detained alongside his father, Victor Martinez Nieto, on Aug. 16 while headed to a soccer game in Austin. The two were later taken to the Dilley immigration detention facility south of San Antonio.

"A 5-year-old Texan just spent the first day of school in an ICE detention center," Talarico wrote on X. "ICE kidnapped Liam Tadeo on his way to a soccer game with his dad. Liam should be in kindergarten."

Talarico followed up Thursday, announcing that Liam had been deported.

But Mullin accused Talarico of leaving out important details surrounding how the father and son ended up in Mexico.

"Since @jamestalarico won't tell the American people the full story, here's what happened," Mullin wrote Thursday.

According to Mullin, Martinez Nieto requested voluntary departure following his arrest and asked that Liam leave the country with him. They were deported together on Tuesday. 

"ICE does NOT separate families," Mullin added. "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."

The family's attorney, however, has described that decision somewhat differently.

Days before their deportation, attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told KUT that Martinez Nieto had decided to voluntarily return to Mexico with his son rather than risk being separated from him.

"Victor, facing the possibility that he will be separated from Liam [...] is deciding to depart voluntarily with his son because the alternative is that

Liam could be placed into [Office of Refugee Resettlement] custody as an unaccompanied child," Lincoln-Goldfinch said.

She later told CBS Austin that Martinez Nieto was given the choice of being deported without Liam or taking his son with him and alleged that authorities wouldn't release the child to his mother. DHS, meanwhile, said parents could choose to leave with their children or have ICE place them with a person designated by the parent.

That distinction is at the center of the disagreement now playing out publicly.

DHS says Martinez Nieto came to the U.S. near Laredo in March 2022, was arrested by ICE in November 2025, according to CBS Austin, and previously accepted voluntary departure before being removed in February. The agency says he later reentered the country without authorization.

"NOBODY is above the law," Mullin said. "When illegal alien parents willingly choose to break our nation's laws, they are responsible for what happens to their children – just as any U.S. citizen parent who breaks the law is when they are arrested."

Chron has reached out to Talarico's team for comment on Mullin's response but has not heard back.

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This article originally published at James Talarico and DHS clash over what happened to deported 5-year-old.