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

A 5-year-old boy and his father detained by immigration officials in Minnesota must be released from a Texas center by Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Saturday in a ruling harshly criticizing the Trump administration’s enforcement practices.

In Minnesota, images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sparked further backlash against the administration’s immigration crackdown.

“This case stems from the government’s haphazard and incompetent implementation of pursuing daily deportation quotas when it clearly requires traumatizing children,” U.S. District Judge Fred Beery of San Antonio, appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, said in his ruling.

Biery had previously ruled that the boy and his father could not be removed from the United States, at least for now.

Liam and his Ecuadorian father, Adrian Conejo Arias, were arrested on January 20 in Columbia Heights, a suburb of Minneapolis, and taken to a detention center in Dilley, Texas.

Neighbors and school officials say federal immigration agents used the preschoolers as “bait” by asking them to knock on the children’s doors in hopes that their mothers would answer. The Department of Homeland Security claimed the account of the event was “a complete lie.” The father fled on foot, leaving the boy in a car in the driveway.

The government says Arias illegally entered the United States from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s attorney said Arias has an ongoing refugee claim that would allow her to remain in the country.

Their detention sparked protests at a family detention center in Texas and a visit from two Texas Democratic lawmakers.

“The government’s ignorance of the American historical document called the Declaration of Independence is also evident,” Biery said in Saturday’s order, suggesting the Trump administration’s actions were similar to what then-writer and future president Thomas Jefferson enumerated as complaints against England’s King George.

Among them: “He sent swarms of police to harass our people” and “incited internal rebellion among us.”

Biery included a photo of Liam and references to two lines from the Bible in his sentence. “Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not disturb them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” “Jesus wept.”

He’s not the only federal judge to be tough on ICE these days. A Minnesota-based judge from a conservative family said the agency was a serial violator of court orders related to the crackdown.

White House chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller said the goal is to arrest 3,000 immigrants per day. That number was what the judge seemed to call the “quota.”

Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jennifer Scarborough, the law firm representing the boy and his family, said in a statement that they are working “to reunite him safely and in a timely manner.”

“We are glad that the family can now focus on being together and finding peace after this traumatic ordeal,” they said.

Castro said the boy was asleep in his father’s arms during a visit Wednesday by Texas Representatives Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett. According to his father, Liam often gets tired at the detention center, which houses about 1,100 people, and is not eating well.

Detained families have reported poor conditions in the detention center since it reopened last year, including insects in their food, fighting for clean water and inadequate medical care. A report filed by ICE in December acknowledged that the agency had detained approximately 400 children for longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.