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In a recent development that has captured nationwide attention, five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, have been released from an ICE detention facility in Texas and have returned to their home in Minnesota. This follows a judicial order that prompted their release, as confirmed by Texas Representative Joaquin Castro.
The pair was initially detained on January 20 in a suburb of Minneapolis. Adrian Conejo Arias, who hails from Ecuador, and his young son were subsequently transferred to a detention center in Dilley, Texas, sparking concern and interest from various quarters.
Representative Castro, who has been actively involved in their case, played a crucial role in ensuring their safe return. According to Katherine Schneider, Castro’s spokesperson, the congressman personally picked them up from the facility on Saturday night and accompanied them back to Minnesota the following day.
In an official statement, Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, clarified that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not specifically target young Liam for arrest. The situation became complicated when Liam’s “alleged mother” declined to take custody of him after his father’s detention. Adrian Conejo Arias expressed his wish for his son to remain with him during the process.
McLaughlin emphasized the Trump administration’s dedication to upholding immigration laws, stating, “The administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to advocate for the arrest, detention, and removal of individuals who are unlawfully present in the country.”
The government said the boy’s father entered the U.S. illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s lawyer said he has an asylum claim pending that allows him to stay in the U.S.
Images of the young boy wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack and surrounded by immigration officers drew outrage about the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis.
In his order granting the release, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery blasted the administration, writing, “The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”
Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.
Castro wrote a letter to Liam while they were on the plane to Minnesota, in which he told the young boy he has “moved the world.”
“Your family, school and many strangers said prayers for you and offered whatever they could do to see you back home,” Castro wrote. A photo of the letter was posted on social media. “Don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t your home. America became the most powerful, prosperous nation on earth because of immigrants not in spite of them.”
Photos on Castro’s social media showed Liam wearing his blue bunny hat and with a Pikachu backpack.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, welcomed the boy back to Minnesota, saying in a social media post that he “should be in school and with family — not in detention,” adding, “Now ICE needs to leave.”
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, also a Democrat from Minnesota, posted a photo to social media of her with Liam, his father and Castro in which she is holding Liam’s Spider-Man backpack. “Welcome home Liam,” she posted with two hearts.