Feb. 9, 2026:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims for the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area. Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown. Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told the New York Times that the government’s attempts to expedite the deportation proceedings “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory.” The government denied targeting the family, with Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin saying “these are regular removal proceedings.”
Feb. 2, 2026:
UNDATED-AP- Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, who were detained by immigration officers in Minnesota and held at an ICE facility in Texas, were released following a judge’s order and returned to Minnesota on Sunday (Feb. 1, 2026), according to Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro.
The boy and his dad, Adrian Conejo Arias, who originally is from Ecuador, were detained in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20, 2026. They were taken to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.
Katherine Schneider, a spokesperson for the Democratic congressman, confirmed the two had arrived home. She said Castro picked them up from Dilley on Saturday night and escorted them home on Sunday to Minnesota.
Images of immigration officers surrounding the young boy in a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack drew outrage about the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not target or arrest the boy, and repeated assertions that his mother refused to take him after his father’s apprehension. His father told officers he wanted Liam to be with him, she said.
Neighbors and school officials have accused federal immigration officers of using the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would come outside. DHS has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.
The government said the boy’s father entered the U.S. illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s lawyer said he has an asylum claim pending that allows him to stay in the U.S.
The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review’s online court docket shows no future hearings for Liam’s father.
The vast majority of asylum-seekers are released in the United States, with adults having eligibility for work permits, while their cases wind through a backlogged court system. Ecuadorians, who left in droves in recent years as their country spiraled into violence, have fared poorly in immigration court, with judges granting asylum in 12.5% of decisions in the 12-month period through September, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
In ordering the release of Liam and his father, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery blasted the administration, writing, “The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”
Residents celebrate release
On Sunday afternoon, residents of Columbia Heights, Minnesota, gathered outside the house where Liam was detained to celebrate his release and call attention to others from the community who remained in ICE detention.
“We cried so much when we heard that he was coming back,” said Lourdes Sanchez, the owner of a cleaning business. “My son is also named Liam, and he is five years old, so it felt personal for us.”
Nearby, Luis Zuna held up photographs of his 10-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who he said had been detained, along with her mother, Rosa, while driving to school on Jan. 6. He said they both remained in custody at the same facility where Liam and his father were held.
“It’s the same situation as Liam, but there were no pictures,” said Carolina Gutierrez, who works as a secretary at the school that Elizabeth attended. “Seeing Liam released, it gives us faith.”
Inquiries to DHS about that case were not immediately returned.
Brenda Marquez, another nearby resident, said she had driven with her husband and two young children to the house immediately upon hearing news of Liam’s release, stopping on the way to pick up Spiderman balloons. “We wanted something that would bring a little happiness,” she said. “Being away from my son and not knowing what’s going on with him, I just can’t imagine it.”
Congressman writes letter to Liam
Castro wrote a letter to Liam while they were on the plane to Minnesota, in which he told the young boy he has “moved the world.”
“Your family, school and many strangers said prayers for you and offered whatever they could do to see you back home,” Castro wrote. A photo of the letter was posted on the congressman’s social media accounts. “Don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t your home. America became the most powerful, prosperous nation on earth because of immigrants not in spite of them.”
Photos on Castro’s accounts showed Liam wearing his blue bunny hat and a Pikachu backpack.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, welcomed the boy back to Minnesota, saying in a social media post that he “should be in school and with family — not in detention.” The senator added: “Now ICE needs to leave.”
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, also a Democrat from Minnesota, posted a photo to social media of her with Liam, his father and Castro in which she is holding Liam’s Spider-Man backpack. “Welcome home Liam,” she posted with two hearts.
In a statement, Columbia Heights Public Schools called Liam’s release “an important development,” one that school officials hope will have positive developments for four other Columbia Heights students held at the same facility in Texas.
Jan. 28., 2026:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has issued a temporary order barring the removal of a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father whose arrest last week in Minnesota became another lightning rod for divisions on immigration under the Trump administration. U.S. Judge Fred Biery ruled Monday (Jan. 26, 2026) that any removal or transfer of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, is on hold while a court case proceeds. The father and son are now at family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, near San Antonio. They were taken into custody last week outside their home in Minnesota.
Jan. 23, 2026:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A 5-year-old boy arriving home from preschool in Minnesota was taken by federal agents along with his father to a detention facility in Texas, school officials and the family’s lawyer said, making him the fourth student from his Minneapolis suburb to be detained by immigration officers in recent weeks.
Federal agents took Liam Conejo Ramos from a running car in the family’s driveway Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 20, 2026), Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters Wednesday. The officers told him to knock on the door to his home to see if other people were inside, “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” she said.
The father told the child’s mother, who was inside the home and has not been named, not to open the door, Stenvik told reporters Thursday.
School officials said the agents wouldn’t leave Liam with another adult who lives at the home or an official from the school district. But on Thursday, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an online post that the father asked for the child to stay with him and that they are together at an immigration lockup in Dilley, Texas.
The family, who came to the U.S. in 2024, has an active asylum case and had not been ordered to leave the country, Stenvik said.
“Why detain a 5-year-old?” she asked. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday that “ICE did NOT target a child.” She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement was arresting the child’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who McLaughlin said is from Ecuador and in the U.S. illegally. He fled on foot, “abandoning his child,” she said.
“For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” McLaughlin said, adding that parents are given the choice to be removed with their children or have them placed with a person of their choosing.
Minnesota has become a major focus of federal immigration sweeps. Greg Bovino, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who has been the face of the crackdowns, said immigration officers have made about 3,000 arrests in Minnesota in the last six weeks.
Others offered to take the child
Stenvik suggested that the father did not run. She said another adult who lives at the home was outside when the father and son were taken, but agents wouldn’t leave Liam with that person.
Mary Granlund, school board chair for Columbia Heights Public Schools, told reporters Thursday that she had told agents she would take the child before they left with him.
Rachel James, a Columbia Heights city council member who lives nearby the family, said she saw another neighbor from across the street tell the agents they had papers authorizing them to take care of Liam on behalf of the parents. The agents ignored them, James said.
The family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch, said Thursday that he assumes Liam and his father are in a family holding cell but that they have not been able to have “direct contact” with them.
“We’re looking at our legal options to see if we can free them either through some legal mechanisms or through moral pressure,” he said at a news conference.
Vice President JD Vance met with Minneapolis leaders Thursday and said he heard the “terrible story” but later learned the boy was only detained, not arrested.
“Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?” said Vance, noting that he’s the parent of a 5-year-old.
Vance wasn’t asked about why immigration officers allegedly wouldn’t leave the boy with the other adult who lives at the home and offered to take him.
Conditions at the Dilley lockup
Families are reporting that children are malnourished, extremely ill, and suffering profoundly from prolonged detention at the Dilley lockup, where conditions are worse than ever, said Leecia Welch, chief legal counselor at Children’s Rights. Welch visited the facility last week as part of a lawsuit over the welfare of immigrant children in federal custody.
“The number of children had skyrocketed and significant numbers of children had been detained for over 100 days,” Welch said. The administration in December acknowledged that about 400 children had faced extended detention.
“Nearly every child we spoke to was sick,” Welch said.
Students kept home after their classmates were detained
Columbia Heights Public Schools has five schools and about 3,400 students from pre-K to 12th grade, according to its website. Most come from immigrant families, Stenvik said.
Before Liam, A 17-year-old was taken Tuesday while heading to school, and a 10-year-old and a 17-year-old have also been taken, Stenvik said. Attendance has dropped over the past two weeks, including one day where about one-third of the students were out from school, she said.
“Over the last few weeks, ICE agents have been roaming our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lot multiple times and taking our kids,” said Stenvik, adding that this is causing “trauma.”
Ella Sullivan, Liam’s teacher, described him as “kind and loving.”
“His classmates miss him,” she said. “And all I want is for him to be safe and back here.”
Comments