5-year-old taken into custody by ICE has active immigration case, preventing deportation for now
The 5-year-old immigrant boy taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement alongside his father in the Minneapolis area earlier this week has an active and pending case in immigration court and cannot be legally deported yet, according to government records reviewed by CBS News.
The ICE operation that led Liam Adrian Conejo Ramos and his father to be taken into government custody, captured on videos and photos that have gone viral, has garnered national attention and raised questions about who exactly the Trump administration is targeting in its mass deportation campaign.
Justice Department records reviewed by CBS News indicate Liam and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos, have immigration court cases listed as "pending." The records by the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review do not list any deportation orders in either case, indicating that an immigration judge still must consider Liam and his father's claims before any deportation attempt. The information says the family's immigration court case was docketed on Dec. 17, 2024.
CBS News was able to review the government information after obtaining the "alien" numbers issued to Liam 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.
Liam and his father are now being held at the Dilley detention center in Texas, ICE's long-term holding site for families with underage children, according to officials and the agency's detainee tracking system.
Representatives for Liam and his father say the family is from Ecuador and that they entered the U.S. in 2024 to request asylum. The family's lawyer said they were able to get an appointment to enter the U.S. at an official crossing site along the southern border, with the government's permission, through a Biden administration system that relied on a phone app called CBP One. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Friday the agency has "no record" of the family using CBP One.
The Trump administration shut down the CBP One process immediately after taking office, and converted it into a self-deportation app now known as CBP Home. It also revoked the legal protections the Biden administration offered those who entered under the program, targeting some of them for arrest and deportation, including during immigration court appointments in cities across the U.S.
The family's lawyer has said Liam's father does not appear to have a criminal record. DHS has called Liam's father an "illegal alien" and accused him of attempting to flee ICE officers, abandoning his son in the process. McLaughlin, the DHS spokeswoman, said Liam's father "committed a federal crime by evading arrest."
And while immigrants with pending claims cannot be legally deported, immigration officials do have the authority to detain them, if they're in the U.S. illegally or without a valid legal status, pending the adjudication of those cases.
Prokosh Law LLC, the law firm representing Liam and his father, did not provide further information when asked about the family's immigration case.
"As their attorney of record, our primary concern at this time is Liam and Adrian's safety, well-being, and the work that is involved in getting them released from detention," the law firm told CBS News. "While we do the relevant work to secure their release, we are unable to provide further information to the press."
Dueling narratives about the arrest
During a press conference in Minneapolis on Friday, Marcos Charles, the head of ICE's deportation branch, said his officers targeted Liam's father — not the child — during an arrest operation on Jan. 20. Charles said Liam was with his father inside a vehicle when ICE officers approached them.
Charles said Liam's father tried to escape on foot, "abandoning his child in the middle of winter in a vehicle." He said an officer stayed with Liam, while others arrested his father. ICE officers "cared for" Liam and took him to a drive-through restaurant, Charles added.
ICE officers tried to get Liam's family to take the child but the "people inside refused to take him in and open the door," according to Charles. He noted his officers were "heartbroken" by the incident.
Sergio Amezcua, a pastor who said he's spoken to Liam's mother, noted she "was terrified" during the incident.
"ICE agents were trying to use the baby for her to come out of her house," Amezcua said on CNN. "But the neighbors step[ped] up. Neighbors advised her not to do it."
On Friday, Charles said families held by ICE get "top-notch care" at facilities like the Dilley center in Texas, calling their treatment "better than social services."
"They have medical care. The food is good. They have learning services. They have church services available. They have recreation," Charles said.
But advocates for immigrants have raised concerns about conditions at the Dilley facility. Neha Desai, an attorney at the California-based National Center for Youth Law, which represents migrant children in U.S. custody, said minors held at Dilley have experienced "a dramatic decline in their physical and mental health."
"The current conditions at Dilley are fundamentally unsafe for anyone, let alone young children," Desai said. "Since the re-opening of family detention, hundreds of families — including babies and toddlers — have been subjected to substandard medical care, degrading and harsh treatment and extremely prolonged times in custody."
