Judge orders US to release 5-year-old boy and father held by ICE in Minnesota

A 5-year-old boy and his father must be released by Tuesday from central Texas where they were detained after being detained by immigration agents in Minnesota, a U.S. federal judge ordered Saturday in a ruling that harshly criticized the Trump administration’s approach to enforcement.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spiderman backpack while surrounded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have sparked an even bigger outcry over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, who sits in San Antonio and was appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, said in his ruling that “the case has its roots in the government’s ill-conceived and implemented pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

Biery previously ruled that the boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, could not be deported from the United States, at least for now.

Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, originally from Ecuador, were arrested in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on January 20. They were taken to a detention center in Dilley, Texas.

Neighbors and school officials say federal immigration agents in Minnesota used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door of his home so his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security called this description of events a “abject lie.” The father fled on foot and left the boy in a moving vehicle in their driveway.

The government says Arias entered the United States illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s attorney says he has a pending asylum application that allows him to remain in the country.

Their detention led to a protest at the Texas Family Detention Center and a visit from two Democratic members of Congress from Texas.

In his order Saturday, Biery said the government’s “obvious ignorance of a historic American document called the Declaration of Independence,” suggesting the Trump administration’s actions echo those that author and future President Thomas Jefferson listed as grievances against England’s King George.

Among them: “He has sent here swarms of officers to harass our people” and “He has excited internal insurrection among us.”

Biery also included in his ruling a photo of Liam Conejo Ramos and references to two Bible verses: “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for of such belongs the kingdom of heaven'” and “Jesus wept.”

He’s not the only federal judge to be tough on ICE recently. A conservative Minnesota-based judge described the agency as a serial violator of court orders related to the crackdown.

Stephen Miller, White House policy chief, said the goal was 3,000 immigrant arrests per day. It is this figure that the judge seemed to describe as a “quota”.

Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Jennifer Scarborough law firm, which represents the boy and his family, said in a statement that it was working “to ensure a safe and timely reunion.”

“We are happy that the family can now focus on being together and finding some peace after this traumatic ordeal,” they said.

During the Jan. 28 visit with Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, the boy slept in the arms of his father, who said Liam was often tired and did not eat well in the detention center housing about 1,100 people, according to Castro.

Detained families report poor conditions, such as worms in the food, struggles to get clean water and poor medical care at the detention center since it reopened last year. In December, a report filed by ICE acknowledged that they were detaining about 400 children beyond the recommended 20-day limit.