5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father have been launched from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, a day after a court docket order mandated their launch.
U.S. District Choose Fred Biery on Saturday directed authorities officers to launch Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos and his son, who have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month in Minnesota, from detention “as quickly as practicable.”
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Division of Homeland Safety Secretary, confirmed the 2 have been launched from ICE custody on Sunday.
“The details on this case have NOT modified: ICE did NOT goal or arrest a baby,” she stated in a press release, including: “The Trump administration is dedicated to restoring the rule of regulation and customary sense to our immigration system, and can proceed to combat for the arrest, detention, and elimination of aliens who don’t have any proper to be on this nation.”
Deputy Legal professional Normal Todd Blanche indicated on “ABC This Week” Sunday that the administration could enchantment Biery’s order.
“The immigration regulation, the physique of immigration regulation is way completely different than our typical felony course of due to the executive nature of what we do on daily basis,” Blanche stated. “And so, to the extent that we have to enchantment that choose’s determination, I promise we’ll.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, posted on social media on Sunday that he had picked up Liam and his father and escorted them again to Minnesota.
On this picture launched by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-TX, Adrian Conejo Arias and his son, five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, are seen in San Antonio, Texas, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, after being launched from Dilley detention heart.
Joaquin Castro by way of AP
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar celebrated Liam and his father’s arrival again in Minnesota in a social media put up on Sunday.
“Welcome house Liam,” she wrote within the put up that included a photograph of her, Liam, his father and Castro.
Since their detention, Liam and his father have been held on the Dilley ICE detention heart, a facility in Texas designed to deal with immigrant households with underage kids who’ve been accused of violating federal immigration regulation.
“Liam’s launch is a crucial improvement, and we hope it’s going to result in optimistic developments for different households as nicely, together with our different 4 college students who’re being held on the Dilley facility in Texas,” Columbia Heights Public Colleges, the place Liam lives and attends college, stated Sunday in a press release. “We would like all kids to be launched from detention facilities and hope for the reunification of households who’ve been unjustly separated.”
Representatives for Liam and his father stated the household is from Ecuador and that they entered the U.S. in 2024 underneath a now-defunct Biden-era system that allowed asylum-seekers to make use of a telephone app to schedule an appointment to be processed at an official border entry.
The DHS, which oversees ICE, has stated that it has no report of the household utilizing that app, previously often known as CBP One. The company has known as Liam’s father an “unlawful alien” and accused him of making an attempt to flee ICE officers after they sought to arrest him on Jan. 20 and abandoning Liam in a car.
DHS officers have additionally alleged that ICE officers tried to get Liam’s mom to take him in, however that she refused to take action. People who’ve spoken with the household have disputed that declare, saying Liam’s mom didn’t open the door out of considerations she would even be arrested by ICE.