WASHINGTON — A federal judge’s sharply worded order has freed 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, from ICE detention and sent them back to Minnesota after their Jan. 20 arrest during an immigration operation in a Minneapolis suburb. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, escorted them home from an immigration facility in Dilley, Texas, after the judge said the government’s deportation push risked “traumatizing children,” Feb. 1, 2026.
Judge’s rebuke of ICE detention tactics
In a three-page opinion and order, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said “administrative warrants” issued inside the executive branch fail the Fourth Amendment’s probable-cause requirement and called the practice “the fox guarding the henhouse.” He granted the family’s habeas corpus petition and ordered their release “as soon as practicable.”
Biery mixed legal analysis with unusually blunt language and historical references, including passages from the Declaration of Independence, while emphasizing that immigration enforcement still must follow “proper legal procedures.”
How the family ended up in ICE detention
Liam’s arrest drew national attention after images showed the preschooler in a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack outside his home with federal officers nearby. The Associated Press reported that neighbors and school officials accused agents of using the child to draw an adult outside — an account the Department of Homeland Security has called an “abject lie.”
Homeland Security officials say agents were trying to arrest the boy’s father and did not target the child. DHS has said officers stayed with Liam while other agents apprehended Conejo Arias and tried to place the boy with an adult inside the home, but that the father requested Liam stay with him.
Rep. Castro escorts the family home
During the trip back, Conejo Arias, an Ecuadorian asylum seeker, told ABC News he was “happy to finally be going home,” and said Liam was excited to see his mother and brother again. Castro traveled with them and later posted that the child was home with his hat and backpack.
Reuters reported that Liam was one of four students detained during the Minnesota operation and that Democrats have used the case to press for changes such as clearer limits on enforcement actions near schools and stronger safeguards for children who end up in ICE detention.
ICE detention and a long-running debate
The Texas site where Liam and his father were held has been at the center of national arguments over family detention for more than a decade. When it opened in 2014, it was billed as the nation’s largest family detention center, with capacity for about 2,400 people, mainly women and children, according to Reuters.
A 2019 Texas Tribune tour described dorm-style housing, strict rules and a campus surrounded by fencing; some mothers said access to doctors and lawyers was better than short-term holding cells, but still felt like jail.
After the facility reopened in 2025, attorneys again raised concerns about conditions and detention length. An AP report in September 2025 detailed declarations describing cloudy water and delayed medical care as part of litigation tied to the Flores Settlement, which sets standards for the treatment of detained children.
What comes next
Conejo Arias’ immigration case is still pending, and Biery noted the family could face removal later. But he wrote that any outcome should come through an orderly and humane process — not through rushed ICE detention decisions that sweep up young children and leave families scrambling for answers.
