A US judge has ordered the release of a five-year-old boy and his father from a Texas detention centre by Tuesday, after they were taken into custody by immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Liam Conejo Ramos, an Ecuadorian boy, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on 20 January after returning from school with his father. Images of the child wearing a bunny hat and a plaid coat went viral, sparking outrage amid claims that the boy was used as bait to try to arrest his mother inside the home.
US district judge Fred Biery said in his ruling on Saturday that “the case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatising children”. Biery previously ruled that the pair could not be removed from the US; his latest order included a photo of the boy and references to two Bible verses: “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me…’” and “Jesus Wept.”
The superintendent of Liam’s school district said three other children had been taken by immigration agents, and that during Liam’s arrest, another adult living in the home begged agents to let them care for the child but was refused. Instead, the agent allegedly directed the child to knock on the door to see if anyone else was home. The Department of Homeland Security disputed this, posting on X that “the child was ABANDONED”.
Texas representatives Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett visited the boy and his father at the detention centre, where Liam was tired and not eating well, according to Castro. The family’s lawyer told CNN that Liam and his family, originally from Ecuador, presented themselves to border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum, with claims still pending.
