Judge orders release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father from ICE

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A federal judge ordered the release by Tuesday of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, court action that followed their detention in Minnesota and transfer to a Texas facility. In a ruling issued Saturday, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said the enforcement approach reflected a government effort tied to deportation quotas and described the impact of the custody on children as a central concern.

Biery, who sits in San Antonio and was appointed by then-President Bill Clinton, directed that Liam and his father be released from the Texas center where they had been held. The judge’s decision came after he had previously ruled the pair could not be removed from the United States “at least for now,” according to the reporting.

In the same order, Biery criticized what he described as the administration’s “ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented” pursuit of daily deportation quotas, adding that the effort appeared to be carried out “apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.” The judge also referenced the Declaration of Independence in what he wrote as a rebuke to the administration’s position, saying the case had its genesis in “the government’s ignorance” of the document.

The case began when Liam and his father were detained in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Jan. 20 and were then taken to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas. Liam was dressed for detention in images that circulated online, including one showing him wearing a bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack while Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers surrounded him, a detail that fueled additional public outcry.

The reporting also described a dispute over how officers detained the family in Minnesota. Neighbors and school officials said federal immigration officers used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door of his house so that his mother would answer, while the Department of Homeland Security disputed that characterization. The department said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in the driveway.

The government said Arias entered the United States illegally from Ecuador in December 2024, while the family’s lawyer said he has a pending asylum claim that would allow him to remain in the country. Biery’s order included references to the Bible, including the passages “Jesus said, ’Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” and “Jesus wept,” according to the account of the ruling.

Outside the courtroom, the detention led to a protest at the Texas center and to political attention from Texas Democrats. During a Wednesday visit by Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, the boy slept in his father’s arms, and Castro said the father told him Liam was frequently tired and not eating well at the facility, which houses about 1,100 people, according to the reporting.

The reporting also cited complaints from detainees and advocates about conditions at the Dilley center, including allegations of worms in food, fighting for clean water, and poor medical care since the center reopened last year. It also referenced an ICE report filed in December acknowledging that the agency held about 400 children longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.

The judge’s ruling came amid other recent court interventions involving ICE, and the reporting cited a Minnesota-based judge with a conservative pedigree describing the agency as a serial violator of court orders tied to the broader crackdown. The order also referred to a target associated with Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy, who has said there’s a target of 3,000 immigration arrests a day—an approach the judge appeared to frame as a “quota,” according to the account.

Spokespersons from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment, the reporting said. The law firm of Jennifer Scarborough, which represents Liam and his family, said in a statement that it was working “to ensure a safe and timely reunion,” adding, “We are pleased that the family will now be able to focus on being together and finding some peace after this traumatic ordeal.”