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An immigration judge has denied the asylum claim for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old boy photographed wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack when he was detained with his father during a Minneapolis-area immigration crackdown earlier this year, a family lawyer said on Wednesday. Danielle Molliver said the judge ordered the family deported to Ecuador, and she said the family is appealing the ruling by Judge John Burns.

Molliver said Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, were taken into custody in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20. She said they were held for 10 days in a Texas detention center before an immigration judge ordered them released, after the case drew national attention.

In announcing the denial, Molliver said the family was “just gravely disappointed in the judge’s misguided decision,” adding that “We’re committed to the family and we’ll fight the appeal, obviously, the best that we can.” She said she expects the government to press for a faster timeline once the case moves into the appeals process.

An appeal, Molliver said, could take years to play out through the courts. She told the court-related process she hoped would be quicker, saying, “At minimum, I would hope we have a couple months,” though she acknowledged the broader pace is uncertain.

Molliver said Liam is now back in his suburban Minneapolis school. She said the boy and his father were “badly shaken” by the detention and that “They’re scared” about what could happen next.

The arrests and the national media coverage unfolded during a surge of immigration enforcement activity around Minneapolis, AP reported. The campaign, which included thousands of immigration officers across the Minneapolis area, brought daily protests and culminated in the shooting deaths of two American citizens by federal officers.

Neighbors and school officials had previously accused federal immigration officers of using Liam as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door of the home so his mother would come outside. The Department of Homeland Security disputed that account, calling it an “abject lie,” and officials said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a vehicle in their driveway; Molliver said the father has denied that version of events.

The government has said the father entered the United States illegally in December 2024. Molliver, describing the family’s legal position, said the father entered legally, requested asylum, and that his asylum claim is part of what allows him to stay in the U.S.