{"id":441597,"date":"2026-01-31T21:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/441597\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T21:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:53:11","slug":"liam-ramos-judge-orders-5-year-old-and-his-father-be-released-from-immigration-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/441597\/","title":{"rendered":"Liam Ramos: Judge orders 5-year-old and his father be released from immigration detention"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A federal judge has ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejos Ramos<\/a> and his father from the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, according to a ruling obtained by CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam and his father were taken by immigration agents from his snowy suburban Minneapolis driveway and sent 1,300 miles to a Texas detention facility designed to detain families<\/a>. They have been detained for more than a week.\n <\/p>\n

\n The order specifies the preschooler and his father be released \u201cas soon as practicable\u201d and no later than Tuesday as their immigration case proceeds through the court system. The ruling, shared with CNN by the judge\u2019s courtroom deputy, was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a scathing opinion, which at times read more like a civics lesson, US District Judge Fred Biery admonished \u201cthe government\u2019s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence\u201d and quoted Thomas Jefferson\u2019s grievances against \u201ca would-be authoritarian king,\u201d saying today people \u201care hearing echos of that history.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam\u2019s detention \u2013 and the striking photo of an agent clutching the boy\u2019s Spider-Man backpack as he stared from under a cartoon bunny hat \u2013 fed mounting outrage over the Trump administration\u2019s massive immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and renewed the question: What happens to children<\/a> when their parents are abruptly taken by ICE?\n <\/p>\n

\n In another diversion from the norms of judicial writing, the judge included the now famous image of Liam at the end of his opinion, under his signature, along with references to the Bible passages Matthew 19:14 and John 11:35.\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam\u2019s case, Biery wrote, originated in \u201cthe ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cObserving human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency,\u201d wrote the judge. \u201cAnd the rule of law be damned.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Biery also took aim at administrative warrants<\/a>, which federal immigration agents often use to make arrests and which do not require a judge\u2019s signature. \u201cAdministrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThat is called the fox guarding the henhouse. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Biery noted Liam and his father may well end up facing deportation anyway due to what he called the \u201carcane\u201d US immigration system \u2013 but \u201cthat result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The judge finished his colorful opinion by quoting Benjamin Franklin\u2019s description of the nascent nation at the 1787 Constitutional Convention: \u201cWell, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?\u201d \u201cA republic, if you can keep it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Though nationwide detentions have swept up some undocumented criminals \u2013 whom the Trump administration says they are targeting \u2013 they have also ensnared legal residents, families and small children. Liam is the fourth child from his school district to be taken away by immigration agents over a two-week period, Columbia Heights Public Schools said. And last weekend, a toddler was returned<\/a> to her mother in Minneapolis after being similarly detained and sent to Texas with her father.\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam\u2019s school district said it was \u201cso happy\u201d to hear about the ruling. \u201cWe want all children to be released from detention centers and the reunification of families who have been unjustly separated,\u201d read a statement from the district.\n <\/p>\n

\n Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, who visited the child and his father in the detention facility earlier this week, previously said the boy was \u201cvery depressed.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam\u2019s father told Castro his son has not been eating well, has been sleeping a lot and asks about his mother and classmates, the congressman said Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n While family members and school administrators have accused ICE of using Liam as \u201cbait\u201d to capture his parents, immigration officials say his mother was just steps away but refused to take him.\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam\u2019s mother, who is pregnant and also has a teenage son, was \u201cterrified\u201d of the agents outside her door, said Pastor Sergio Amezcua<\/a>, who has been helping the mother.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cICE agents were trying to use the baby to get her to come out of her house,\u201d Amezuca said. But neighbors advised her not to come out, fearing she would also be detained.\n <\/p>\n

\n An agent \u201cled him to the door and directed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, in order to see if anyone else was home \u2013 essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,\u201d said Zena Stenvik, superintendent of the local school district.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mary Granlund, the school board chair at Columbia Heights Public Schools, was driving by and witnessed the frantic scene. She told CNN Liam\u2019s mother was looking out of a window, but Liam\u2019s father was yelling, \u201cPlease do not open the door! Don\u2019t open the door!\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere was another adult who lived in the home that was there saying, \u2018I will take the child. I will take the child,\u2019\u201d Granlund said.\n <\/p>\n

\n However, the Department of Homeland Security has offered a different account, saying Liam\u2019s father fled as agents tried to detain him, leaving the child alone.\n <\/p>\n

\n DHS said in a social media post<\/a> Liam\u2019s \u201calleged mother REFUSED to take custody of her own child\u201d despite \u201cmultiple attempts to get the mother inside the house to take custody of her child.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cParents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates,\u201d it said.\n <\/p>\n

\n DHS said in another post agents \u201cabided by the father\u2019s wishes to keep the child with him.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n An ICE official said the agency has never \u201cused a child as bait.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMy officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family,\u201d said Marcos Charles, the acting executive associate director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. He said agents took care of Liam and brought him to McDonald\u2019s for a meal.\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam\u2019s father has been called an \u201cillegal alien\u201d by the Department of Homeland Security, but their attorney says the family entered the US legally and was applying for asylum.\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam and his family are from Ecuador and presented themselves to border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum, according to the family\u2019s lawyer, Marc Prokosch.\n <\/p>\n

\n The father and his wife had come to the US seeking \u201ca good life\u201d away from the economic turmoil and unstable employment in Ecuador, his brother Luis Conejo told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Liam\u2019s father does not appear to have a criminal record in Minnesota, Prokosch said. DHS officials have yet to share any criminal history for Conejo Arias, and a source familiar with the matter has told CNN there does not appear to be a criminal history.\n <\/p>\n

\n When asked about any potential criminal history, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, \u201cThe law requires those in the country illegally claiming fearing to be detained pending removal. You can look it up in the statute.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has been unable to find any criminal record for Arias in public sources. He did not have a criminal record in Ecuador, according to the country\u2019s Interior Ministry.\n <\/p>\n

\n This story has been updated with additional information.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge has ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejos Ramos and his father from the South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-441597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}