A federal judge in Texas has blocked the immediate deportation of a five-year-old boy and his father, one week after their arrest in Minnesota sparked international outrage. The ruling, issued on Tuesday by Judge Fred Biery of the western district of Texas, orders that Liam Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, cannot be removed or transferred out of the judicial district while litigation challenging their detention proceeds.
The boy’s arrest seven days ago went viral, becoming a symbol of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrant communities in the Minneapolis region. Attorneys for the family say the father and son have an active asylum case and entered the US at an authorised port of entry. Officials at Liam’s school district spoke out after his arrest, saying the pair were detained as they returned home from school.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the arrest, arguing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was conducting a “targeted operation” to detain the boy’s father. The father and son were quickly transferred to the Dilley immigration processing centre in Texas, a facility that holds families with children and has faced protests over conditions.
In his order, Judge Biery wrote that “any possible or anticipated removal or transfer of” the father and child is “immediately stayed until further order from this Court”. The government “shall not transfer” them out of the district during the litigation. Liam is one of four students from the Columbia Heights school district who have been detained by federal immigration agents this month, according to school officials.
DHS alleged that Liam’s father “fled” and “abandoned” his son when ICE approached them after school, leading agents to take the boy into custody “for the child’s safety”. However, school officials countered that the family was trying to prevent the boy from being taken, and that there was an adult present offering to care for Liam. Officials accused agents of using the boy as “bait” by having him knock on the door of his home.
In a statement after the ruling, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin repeated that agents had not intended to take custody of Liam, alleging that officers attempted to have Liam’s mother take the boy but she refused. Attorneys for the family did not respond to inquiries after the ruling.
