A U.S. judge has ordered the ICE child release of a five-year-old boy and his father from a Texas detention center. Immigration officers removed the boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, from his Minneapolis home while he wore a blue bunny hat and carried a Spider-Man backpack. As a result, his detention sparked national outrage. The ICE child release followed widespread criticism of the government’s actions.
Meanwhile, the boy’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, also faced detention during the same operation. Authorities said they targeted him because he entered the country illegally and left his son behind. However, the family’s lawyer said both father and son had followed proper asylum procedures after arriving from Ecuador last year.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery granted an emergency request to free the father and son. He ordered officials to release them within days. In addition, the judge included a photo of Ramos in his blue bunny hat in his ruling. He condemned the government’s pursuit of deportation quotas that harm children. Furthermore, Judge Biery wrote that the government must enforce deportation in an orderly and humane way. He stated that some leaders impose cruelty without limits. In his words, the detention reflected a “perfidious lust for unbridled power.”
The family’s lawyer confirmed that the father and son stayed in a San Antonio detention center. He emphasized that the family followed legal procedures and posed no threat. Meanwhile, the case drew strong public attention to immigration enforcement practices and sparked debates over family separation. President Trump recently increased immigration enforcement in Minneapolis under “Operation Metro Surge.” The campaign drew attention because federal agents intervened in local neighborhoods. Despite this, a separate federal ruling allowed authorities to continue the operation in the city.
The ICE child release highlights concerns about protecting young children in immigration cases. Advocates called for policies that keep families together and reduce trauma. In addition, the boy and his father now await further immigration hearings, finally reunited after weeks apart. Overall, the case sparked discussion about the human impact of immigration enforcement.
