Judge orders release of 5-year-old detained by immigration authorities in Minnesota

A federal judge on Saturday ordered the release of a 5-year-old boy whose detention by Minnesota immigration authorities last week sparked an international outcry.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said in a scathing court order that the Trump administration must release Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrián Alexander Conejo Arias, by Tuesday.

The father and son were taken into custody by immigration authorities on January 20, when the child was returning home from preschool. Both men have since been detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.

The case sparked widespread outrage after an image of Ramos – wearing a blue hat and backpack while being taken into custody by immigration authorities – went viral online.

“Observation of human behavior confirms that for some of us, the treacherous thirst for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its pursuit knows no bounds and is devoid of human decency,” Biery wrote in his order, referring to the boy’s detention. “And to hell with the rule of law. »

Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The legal team representing Liam and his father said in a statement that they were grateful for the court’s quick decision.

“We are now working closely with our clients and their families to ensure safe and timely reunions,” they said. “We are happy that the family can now focus on being together and finding some peace after this traumatic ordeal.”

Liam and his father were confronted by immigration authorities outside their home while returning from the child’s preschool, according to Zena Stenvik, superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools.

A school board member who witnessed the father’s arrest said he heard an adult inside the home pleading with officers to let the child go.

The boy’s mother, Erika Ramos, said she “witnessed the scene from the window and couldn’t do anything. Adrián begged me several times not to go out because he was afraid they would arrest me too.”

She said that when immigration authorities noticed her at the window, they took Liam out of their vehicle and brought him to the front door.

“They used my boy as bait,” Erika Ramos said. “Despite this, my husband desperately insisted that I not go out, especially because we have another child and I am pregnant. »

DHS has repeatedly denied using Ramos as “bait,” instead saying Liam’s father fled without him to evade capture.

“For the safety of the child, one of our ICE agents remained with the child while the other agents apprehended Conejo Arias,” DHS said in a statement Friday.

Ramos disputed the DHS account of events.

“I repeat, at no time did my husband do what they say, abandon my son,” she said. “No, at no time did he do that.”

Liam was one of four minors apprehended by immigration authorities last week, Twin Cities school district officials said.

Their captures are part of a broader immigration enforcement operation by the Trump administration in Minneapolis known as Operation Metro Surge.

Since December, the federal government has sent 3,000 immigration agents to the state and made more than 3,000 arrests of undocumented immigrants, according to DHS.

In addition to the arrests of children, the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, 37, by federal immigration authorities have sparked outcry and daily protests.