A US judge has ordered the release of a five-year-old boy and his father from a Texas immigration detention centre by Tuesday, following their arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Liam Conejo Ramos, an Ecuadorian child, was detained alongside his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, on 20 January after returning from school. Images of the boy wearing a bunny hat and plaid coat sparked widespread outrage after claims by the local school superintendent that agents used the child as bait to try to arrest his mother inside the family home.
US District Judge Fred Biery, who previously ruled that the pair could not be removed from the US, said the case stemmed from 'ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatising children'. He included a photo of the boy and two Bible references in his ruling.
The Department of Homeland Security disputed the allegations, stating on social media that the child was 'abandoned' rather than used as bait. The family’s lawyer told CNN that Liam and his family originally from Ecuador had presented themselves to border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum, a claim still pending.
During a visit to the detention centre, Texas representatives Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett reported that the boy was tired and not eating well. The Columbia Heights school district superintendent also revealed that three other children had been taken by immigration agents in the area.
