WATCH: Rep. Castro recounts his visit with Liam Ramos, the 5-year-old in ICE custody

Children detained at an ICE detention center in Dilley, Texas, “feel hopeless and depressed,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said after a visit there this week.

Among the children he visited was 5-year-old Liam Ramos, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as he returned home to Minneapolis from school with his father. Federal agents ordered Liam, who was wearing a Spider-Man backpack, to knock on his door to see if there were other people inside. Department of Homeland Security officials said they were targeting the father, not the child. They accused Liam’s father of abandoning his son and that others in the house “refused” to open the door.

Castro said Ramos and his family entered the United States legally.

Watch Rep. Joaquin Castro’s interview with PBS News co-anchor Jeff Bennett in the player above.

The case has drawn national attention and Democrats are demanding the release of father and son, as broader scrutiny grows around the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dilley, where the couple is being held alongside other families. Detainees there say the prison lacks adequate medical care, food is contaminated with worms, and drinking water is limited.

He watches: Detainees held at an ICE facility in Texas protest living conditions and treatment

“We saw the whole gamut, a whole bunch of kids, a 9-year-old who was arrested in Austin and spent New Year’s Eve being treated in this prison,” he recalls. “A little girl kept approaching me, a little girl was hugging my leg, asking us to help get her out of there.”

He added: “These children are very traumatized… and the parents themselves are traumatized, and they are grappling with how to help their children, but they cannot.”

Jeff Bennett spoke with Castro about his visit to the facility, why Liam Ramos and his father were detained, and why Castro believes ICE should be disbanded.

Here are some highlights from the conversation.

JEFF BENNETT: I visited the Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas, last week, where 5-year-old Liam Ramos is being held with his father. What did his father tell you about their experience there and the conditions in which they lived?

Representative Castro: Liam’s not feeling well. He was sleeping a lot. He wasn’t eating well and was very depressed. He misses his mom, he misses his classmates, and he wants to go home.

JEFF BENNETT: On News Hour, we’ve covered the situation at the Deli, and reports of food being served contaminated with mold and, in some cases, worms. Had his father described something like this?

Representative Castro: Yes, his father said he didn’t eat. There were other children who said they had food allergies, for example, and that they were not taken seriously, and that they were being served the same food over and over again. People have complained about things like worms sometimes being in their food. Remember, these are prisons. They are a kind of prison and we should not have a 5 year old who has not committed any crime and a 2 month old child. We should not put them in prisons in the United States of America.

JEFF BENNETT: Well, say more about that, because Liam’s story has captured national attention, but his plight reflects this broader pattern of families and children, young children, who are caught up in immigration enforcement.

Representative Castro: Yes, these are children. We saw the whole series, a whole bunch of kids, a 9-year-old kid who was arrested in Austin and spent New Year’s Eve being treated in this prison, the Dilley Detention Center. And other children were crying… A little girl kept coming towards me, a little girl who was hugging my leg, asking us to help get her out of there. Thus, these children suffer severe trauma, and many of them are hopeless and depressed. The parents themselves are shocked, grappling with how to help their children, but they can’t.

Jeff Bennett: In the case of Liam Ramos and his family, do we know why they were pursued deportation to begin with even though they had an active asylum case?

Representative Castro: We could not find out why they were kidnapped from the street. They had another asylum hearing, and I think that’s what Liam’s father said. These were the people who followed all the rules. They used the CBP One app to obtain permission to enter the United States and wait while their asylum application was processed. So follow the rules. They did this in an organized manner. They did not rush the border. The Trump administration is still picking them up off the street and dumping them in rural Texas.

Jeff Bennett: I know you think ICE should be disbanded. What specific reforms do you think are urgently needed?

Representative Castro: Well, I think the ultimate solution is really ICE. Now, if you told me that we were still going to leave them in charge of something like customs enforcement instead of immigration enforcement, that might be a compromise in the future, but they shouldn’t be in charge of any kind of immigration enforcement. Created during the War on Terror, ICE conflated concerns about terrorism with immigration in a way that portrayed every immigrant as some sort of criminal; It assumes criminality and hatred among immigrants and this is not the case. There was not a single criminal among these 1,100 people we visited. I know this because ICE is the one who told me that no one is a criminal there.

Jeff Bennett: Do you see the political tide changing here? Donald Trump, as you well know, won the Electoral College, won the popular vote in this last election that was largely focused on the issue of tougher immigration enforcement.

Representative Castro: I think people see the inhumanity, and they see what they think are fascist ways of enforcing immigration laws. They see the abuse even of American citizens, and the killing of American citizens. They argue that ICE wants to be able to enter people’s homes without a warrant at all. They see agents knocking door to door, going from job to job, looking for people of color and people who speak English with an accent. And yeah, I think most Americans see that and say, either this isn’t America, or I don’t want it to be America.