A five-year-old migrant child and his father have returned to Minnesota following their controversial detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), culminating in a federal judge’s scathing condemnation of immigration enforcement practices. Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias were released from the Dilley detention center in Texas after U.S. District Judge Fred Biery granted an emergency request for their freedom.
Judge Biery, a Clinton appointee, delivered a blistering critique in his ruling, characterizing the detention as driven by a ‘perfidious lust for unbridled power’ and criticizing what he called an ‘ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas.’ The judge emphasized that deportations should occur through a more orderly and humane immigration policy than currently exists.
The case has ignited national controversy and exposed conflicting narratives about immigration enforcement. While the Department of Homeland Security maintains that ‘ICE did NOT target or arrest a child’ and that the father ‘abandoned his child as he fled from ICE officers,’ family representatives present a dramatically different account.
Attorney Marc Prokosch asserted that the family ‘did everything right’ in their asylum pursuit, having entered through a port of entry, used the CBP One app, made appointments, and fully complied with all established protocols. ‘This family was not eluding ICE in any way,’ Prokosch emphasized. ‘They were following all established protocols pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings and pose no safety, no flight risk.’
The detention sparked protests outside the Texas facility and drew intervention from multiple Democratic lawmakers. Congressman Joaquin Castro accompanied the family back to Minneapolis and announced their release, while Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar welcomed their return, expressing gratitude for Castro’s involvement.
The incident reveals ongoing tensions between the Trump administration’s immigration policies and judicial oversight, with the administration maintaining its commitment to ‘restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system’ through the ‘arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country.’