WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it is pursuing deportation proceedings against 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, after the family’s detention in Minnesota became a national flashpoint. DHS says the case is moving through regular removal proceedings — not an expedited process — after the family’s attorney and Democratic lawmakers questioned the timing, Feb. 6, 2026.
In a statement cited by Reuters, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “These are regular removal proceedings,” adding, “This is standard procedure and there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”
The family’s attorney, Danielle Molliver, called the government’s move “extraordinary” and suggested it could be retaliatory. DHS, meanwhile, has accused Conejo Arias of being in the United States illegally, without providing further details, while the family maintains he has an active asylum case.
Liam Conejo Ramos, a preschool student in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, was detained with his father Jan. 20 and flown to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Dilley, Texas. Photos of Liam in a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack circulated widely online, sparking local demonstrations and placing the case at the center of a broader debate over immigration enforcement.
A U.S. district judge in Texas ordered Liam Conejo Ramos and his father released Jan. 31, and the two returned to Minnesota the next day, according to The Associated Press. In the order, Judge Fred Biery criticized an “ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented” push for deportation quotas “even if it requires traumatizing children,” the AP reported.
What DHS says about Liam Conejo Ramos’ case
DHS says agents did not “target” the child and that officers tried to place him with his mother after his father was detained. Accounts of the encounter differ: School officials and neighbors have alleged the child was used as “bait” to draw adults out of the home, while DHS has rejected that characterization.
The dispute returned to immigration court this week. Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro said the Justice Department filed for expedited deportation, while DHS said the family is not in expedited removal. A school official told ABC News that the immigration judge granted the family a continuance, postponing the case.
Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said the uncertainty is disruptive for a young student. “Our concern remains centered on Liam and all children who deserve stability, safety and the opportunity to be in school without fear,” Stenvik said in a statement quoted by KSTP.
Earlier fights over child detention and family separation
The debate over Liam Conejo Ramos echoes earlier court battles over how the U.S. handles children in immigration custody. In 2018, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the government to stop separating parents and children at the border and to reunite families already split apart, Reuters reported at the time.
A year later, the Trump administration rolled out a regulation aimed at replacing limits tied to the Flores settlement and holding migrant families longer while asylum claims were decided, according to Reuters. The Dilley center where Liam Conejo Ramos was held has also been a focal point in these debates; the AP, in 2018, described the facility as the “epicenter” of family detention policy during a tour of the Texas lockup.
For now, Liam Conejo Ramos remains with his family in Minnesota while attorneys prepare for the next hearing date. DHS says the proceedings are routine, but critics say the case will test what due process looks like when immigration enforcement meets a child’s day-to-day life.
