Judge orders release of father and 5-year-old detained by ICE in Minnesota

A federal judge in Texas has ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from an ICE detention center “as soon as practicable,” but no later than Feb. 3.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery on Saturday ordered the release of Liam and his father, asylum seeker Adrian Conejo Arias, from the Dilley, Texas, immigration detention center. Biery previously ruled on Jan. 27 that the Minnesota preschooler or his father could not be deported.

The detention of Conejo and his son Liam garnered national attention, with many criticizing ICE after photos began circulating showing the blue bunny-hat-wearing 5-year-old being detained in the driveway of his home on Jan. 20.

“The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children,” Biery wrote in his order filed Saturday.

Biery’s order continued: “Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned.”

The scathing order by Biery comes on the same day a federal judge in Minnesota ruled that the court would not order a halt on President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in the city.

U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez’s ruling on Saturday followed a lawsuit by state officials accusing the federal government of an “unconstitutional and unlawful” deployment, calling it a “federal crackdown.” The lawsuit further accused immigration agents of civil rights violations, including racially profiling citizens and unlawfully detaining Minnesota residents.

Family’s attorneys working to ‘ensure a safe and timely reunion’

In a statement to USA Today, Jennifer Scarborough, a Minnesota-based attorney for Liam’s family, said, “The legal team representing Liam Conejo Ramos and his father are grateful for the Court’s thoughtful consideration of the merits in this matter and for acting swiftly to reach a decision.”

“We are now working closely with our clients and their family to ensure a safe and timely reunion,” the statement continues. “We are pleased that the family will now be able to focus on being together and finding some peace after this traumatic ordeal.”

Why were Liam and his father detained?

Liam and his father were taken by ICE while in their driveway after school. The detention came after agents refused an offer to take the child by an adult known to the family. Instead, the agents led the boy to his front door and ordered him to knock – “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” according to a news release from Columbia Heights Public Schools.

While ICE has disputed this claim, Vice President JD Vance defended the agency on Jan. 22, saying that the federal agency was targeting Conejo, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador accused of trying to flee from immigration agents. As for the boy, he said, “Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death?”

Marc Prokosch, a Minnesota-based immigration attorney also representing Liam’s family, previously denied federal officials’ account of the arrest and said Conejo was in the country legally, awaiting asylum − another assertion disputed by the government.

“How can you justify incarcerating a child?” Prokosch told reporters during a news conference last week, adding that Conejo has no criminal record and that the family was in the country legally.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has also criticized the detention, saying Liam is “not a threat of our community.”

Liam and his family entered US in 2024, attorney says

According to Prokosch, Liam and his family used a Customs and Border Protection app to apply for asylum before entering the U.S. in 2024 at an official port of entry in Brownsville, Texas.

“They came properly and are pursuing a legal pathway,” he said, declining to share what prompted them to flee Ecuador, considered among the most violent in Latin America, according to Human Rights Watch.

Conjeo and his wife came to the United States seeking “a good life” away from the economic turmoil and unstable job situations in Ecuador, his brother Luis Conejo told CNN.