After ICE Detention, 5-Year-Old Boy Finally Comes Home
After five traumatic days in ICE detention, a Minnesota child and his father return home following a judge’s order, reigniting the immigration debate.
A congressman has confirmed that a five-year-old boy and his father, who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota, have returned home.
Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, announced Sunday that Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, had been released from the Dilley Detention Center in Texas and were back in Minneapolis.
Castro said: "Liam is home now. With his hat and his backpack."
Their detention sparked protests outside the detention center where they were being held and caused an uproar nationwide. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said: "ICE did not target or arrest a child."
Before their return home, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery granted an emergency request from the family's lawyer and ordered their release on Saturday.
The judge condemned their detention, saying it was driven by "the deceitful greed of unchecked power."
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"This case began with the government's misguided and ineptly implemented attempt to meet daily deportation quotas, apparently regardless of the trauma inflicted on children," Biery wrote in his ruling.
Biery, who was appointed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, said that deportations through the U.S. immigration system should be conducted under a more orderly and humane policy than the current system.
While the father and son were still at the Texas detention center, Castro wrote on social media that the young boy was not doing well being away from his family, classmates, and home.
The Department of Homeland Security has said that the two entered the U.S. illegally, while a lawyer for the family said they followed the proper protocols for seeking asylum. “The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight to arrest, detain, and remove aliens who have no legal right to be in this country.”
Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Democrat and vocal critic of ICE, also posted on social media about the father and son’s return to Minneapolis.
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“Liam is now home and we are grateful to [Joaquin Castro] for bringing him and his father back to Minneapolis,” Omar wrote. “Welcome home, Liam.”
There have been conflicting reports about what happened during the ICE operation where Ramos was first approached by ICE agents. Officials at the school Ramos attended said the boy had just arrived home from preschool when an ICE agent instructed the child to knock on the door to see if anyone else was home.
A school official said another adult in the home asked to take the young boy inside but was refused.
School board member Mary Granlund said she was on the scene and told immigration officials she could take Ramos with her, but they still took him into custody.
In a post on X, ICE denied taking the child into custody.
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“A criminal illegal alien fled from ICE officers, abandoning his child, and our officers ensured the child was safe in the freezing temperatures,” the agency said.
“ICE made multiple attempts to get the family to bring the child inside to take custody of the child. They refused to take custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to stay with him,” the agency said.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told reporters that ICE had no other choice because “the father fled.” Attorney Mark Prokosch, representing the family, said the father and son "did everything right" when they entered the country from Ecuador in 2024.
Prokosch said they entered the U.S. at a port of entry to seek asylum, used the CBP One app, scheduled an appointment, presented themselves to Customs and Border Protection, and shared all their information with the government.
Prokosch added, "This family was not in any way evading ICE. They were following all the established protocols to pursue their asylum claim, attending their court hearings, and posed no flight risk or danger, and should never have been taken into custody."
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