Liam Conejo Ramos, the young boy detained by federal agents, and his father boarded a plane home on Sunday after a judge ordered their release, according to ABC News.
Liam, 5, and Adrian Conejo Arias, boarded a plane leaving San Antonio on Sunday after the pair of asylum seekers were taken from Minneapolis and sent to Texas, according to ABC.
On Saturday, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered the pair released, writing that “because of the arcane United States immigration system,” they should “return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place.”
According to Minneapolis school officials, the boy was detained by immigration agents in late January after he arrived home from school.
The pair had a pending asylum case and did not have an order of deportation, the outlet reports.
In a statement to ABC News after the ruling, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, said, ”The facts in this case have NOT changed: ICE did NOT target or arrest a child.”
According to McLaughlin, ICE agents remained with the child while others arrested his father. McLaughlin claims that the officers attempted to place the boy with another family member who then refused custody, the outlet reports.
However, the family’s legal representation and school officials say that another adult in the Conejo Arias home wanted to take Liam from the immigration agents, but was denied, according to ABC.