SAN ANTONIO – A federal judge has mandated the release of a 5-year-old boy and his father from a Texas detention center by Tuesday, after their detention by immigration officials in Minnesota. This decision, issued on Saturday, comes with sharp criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
Images of young Liam Conejo Ramos, donning a bunny hat and Spiderman backpack as he was surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, on January 20, have intensified backlash against the administration’s immigration policies in the state. The incident has sparked protests at the Texas family detention facility and drawn the attention of two Democratic Congress members from Texas.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, a Clinton appointee based in San Antonio, expressed strong disapproval of the administration’s practices in his ruling, asserting that the situation stemmed from “an ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”
Previously, Judge Biery had determined that Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, should not be deported from the United States, at least temporarily.
In his latest order, Biery criticized the government for seemingly disregarding historical American principles, likening the administration’s actions to the grievances Thomas Jefferson listed against England in the Declaration of Independence.
The judge also included a poignant photo of Liam Conejo Ramos in his ruling, alongside biblical references: “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,’” and the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.”
He’s not the only federal judge who has been tough on ICE recently. A Minnesota-based judge with a conservative pedigree accused the agency as a serial violator of court orders.
Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy, has said there’s a target of 3,000 immigration arrests a day. It’s that figure which the judge seemed to describe as a “quota.”
Spokespersons from the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers in Minnesota 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.
The government says Arias entered the U.S. illegally in December 2024. The family’s lawyer says he has a pending asylum claim that allows him to remain in the country.
During the Jan. 28 visit with Texas Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, the boy slept in the arms of his father, who said Liam was frequently tired and not eating well at the detention facility that houses about 1,100 people, according to Castro.
Detained families report poor conditions like worms in food, fighting for clean water and poor medical care at the detention center since its reopening last year. In December, a report filed by ICE acknowledged they held about 400 children longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.
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Associated Press writer Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this article.
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