ICE releases 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from custody

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, a day after a court order mandated their release.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery on Saturday directed government officials to release Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos and his son, who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month in Minnesota, from detention "as soon as practicable."

Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary, confirmed the two were released from ICE custody on Sunday.

"The facts in this case have NOT changed: ICE did NOT target or arrest a child," she said in a statement, adding: "The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country."

Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, posted on social media on Sunday that he had picked up Liam and his father and escorted them back to Minnesota.

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar celebrated Liam and his father's arrival back in Minnesota in a social media post on Sunday.

"Welcome home Liam," she wrote in the post that included a photo of her, Liam, his father and Castro.

Since their detention, Liam and his father were held at the Dilley ICE detention center, a facility in Texas designed to house immigrant families with underage children who have been accused of violating federal immigration law.

"Liam's release is an important development, and we hope it will lead to positive developments for other families as well, including our other four students who are being held at the Dilley facility in Texas," Columbia Heights Public Schools, where Liam lives and attends school, said Sunday in a statement. "We want all children to be released from detention centers and hope for the reunification of families who have been unjustly separated."

Representatives for Liam and his father said the family is from Ecuador and that they entered the U.S. in 2024 under a now-defunct Biden-era system that allowed asylum-seekers to use a phone app to schedule an appointment to be processed at an official border entry.

The DHS, which oversees ICE, has said that it has no record of the family using that app, formerly known as CBP One. The agency has called Liam's father an "illegal alien" and accused him of trying to flee ICE officers when they sought to arrest him on Jan. 20 and abandoning Liam in a vehicle.

DHS officials have also alleged that ICE officers tried to get Liam's mother to take him in, but that she refused to do so. Individuals who have spoken with the family have disputed that claim, saying Liam's mother did not open the door out of concerns she would also be arrested by ICE.