Judge orders 5-year-old detained in Minnesota and dad to be released from ICE detention in Texas

A federal judge in Texas ordered Saturday Liam Conejo Ramos, 5 years old and his father must be released from immigration detention.

Granting an emergency request filed by the family’s attorney, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered government authorities to release Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos and his son, who were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month in Minnesotadetention “as soon as possible”, but no later than Tuesday February 3.

“We are now working closely with our clients and their families to ensure a safe and timely reunion,” Jennifer Scarborough, one of the attorneys representing the family, told CBS Minnesota in a statement. “We are happy that the family can now focus on being together and finding some peace after this traumatic ordeal.”

CBS News contacted representatives of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, to seek comment on Saturday’s order but did not receive a response.

Earlier in the week, Biery blocked ICE from deporting Liam and his family or transferring them out of Texas while the trial proceeded.

In an opinion accompanying his decision, Biery said the detention of Liam and his father “has its origins in the government’s ill-conceived and implemented pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

The judge also cited the Declaration of Independence, saying the government’s ignorance about it is “apparent.”

Biery signed off his notice Saturday with a photo of Liam seen wearing a blue bunny hat and his school backpack while in custody. The photo attracted national attention and sparked outrage.

Since their detention, Liam and his father have been held at the Dilley ICE Detention Center, a facility in Texas designed to house immigrant families with minor children accused of violating federal immigration law.

Representatives for Liam and his father said the family was originally from Ecuador and entered the United States in 2024 under a now-defunct Biden-era system that allowed asylum seekers to use a phone app to make an appointment at an official border entry.

DHS said it had no record of the family using the app, formerly known as CBP One. The agency called Liam’s father an “illegal alien” and accused him of trying to flee from ICE agents when they sought to arrest him on Jan. 20 and abandoning Liam in a vehicle.

DHS officials also claimed that ICE agents tried to convince Liam’s mother to take him in, but she refused to do so. People who spoke with the family disputed that claim, saying Liam’s mother didn’t open the door out of fear that she, too, would be arrested by ICE.

According to Justice Department records reviewed by CBS News, Liam and his father have active and pending cases in immigration court. This means they face deportation proceedings before an immigration judge. But it also means they can’t be legally deported until a judge has fully ruled on their case.

A family lawyer said Liam’s father had no criminal record, and DHS officials have not argued otherwise.

Liam and his father were arrested in a massive crackdown by thousands of federal immigration agents. deployed to Minneapolis area by the Trump administration. The large-scale deployment of ICE and Border Patrol agents has angry local leaders And triggered protests which intensified after the deaths of federal officers Renee Bonne And Alex Prettiboth American citizens and residents of Minneapolis.

Earlier this week, following intense bipartisan outcry over Pretti’s killing and the administration’s response, White House border czar Tom Homan suggested officials could launch a “withdrawal” of federal agents from Minneapolisif local authorities expanded their cooperation with ICE.