Immigration expert urges families seeking asylum to prepare after 5-year-old boy taken into custody by ICE
There's growing concern over how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handled a situation involving a preschool student in Columbia Heights, Minnesota.
It's an image that's struck a chord across the country. The picture of 5-year-old Liam Ramos flanked by ICE agents shortly after they arrested his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo-Arrias. The federal agency said he abandoned his son in the car outside their home. Conejo-Arrias had just picked up his son from preschool.
The pair is now being held in Texas at what ICE calls its least restrictive holding facility for families.
"My officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family. Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, people inside refused to take him in and open the door," said Marcus Charles, acting executive director of ICE.
School officials have a different view of what happened, claiming Ramos was being used as bait so agents could enter the home to find more family members.
ICE officials were asked Friday if Conejo-Arrias had a criminal history.
"He was in the United States illegally and I believe he had been ordered removed," Charles said, before adding that the entire family entered the country illegally as a unit.
Mark Prokosch, the lawyer representing Conejo-Arrias' family, said the father has no criminal record and that the family is in the process of seeking asylum. They came from Ecuador in 2024 and entered the U.S. through a port of entry using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection app.
"Every step of their immigration process has been doing what they've been asked to do," said Prokosch.
Immigration experts tell WCCO that asylum seekers are legally allowed to be in the U.S., only facing deportation if they commit a crime or there's an order to remove them.
"Typically, [ICE] have not detained asylum seekers who haven't posed a threat to public safety," said Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum.
CBS News has reviewed Department of Justice documents related to the Conejo-Arrias' family that show they have an active and pending case in immigration court. The documents do not list any deportation orders.
CBS News was able to review the government information after obtaining the "alien" numbers issued to Ramos and his father. Those "A numbers" are issued by the U.S. government to immigrants, illegal and legal alike, to internally track their deportation cases or immigration applications.
Given what happened to Conejo-Arrias, Murray wants other families seeking asylum in the U.S. to prepare themselves. She suggests they come up with a plan if a family member is detained by ICE, including memorizing phone numbers for immigration lawyers.
"So that even if your phone is removed from you or your wallet, you're able to still contact your lawyer," said Murray.