Minnesota Boy And Father Freed After ICE Detention Sparks Outcry

On a chilly February morning in Minneapolis, a five-year-old boy named Liam Conejo Ramos returned home, clutching his beloved hat and backpack. His homecoming, however, was not just a family affair—it was the culmination of a national controversy that exposed deep divisions and raw emotions around U.S. immigration enforcement, as reported by BBC, The Guardian, and USA TODAY.

Liam and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, had spent more than a week in the South Texas Family Residential Center, a sprawling detention facility in Dilley, Texas, after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on January 20, 2026. Their detention, which began on the driveway of their home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, quickly became a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Congressman Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, played a pivotal role in bringing national attention to the case and ultimately escorting Liam and his father back to Minneapolis after their release. In a widely shared social media post, Castro wrote, "Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack. Thank you to everyone who demanded freedom for Liam. We won’t stop until all children and families are home." According to The Guardian, Castro personally picked up the pair from the Texas detention center and accompanied them on their journey home.

The arrest itself was fraught with controversy and conflicting accounts. School officials from the Columbia Heights public school district, where Liam attended preschool, said the five-year-old had just returned home from school when ICE agents pulled him and his father from their car. According to Superintendent Zena Stenvik, another adult living in the home offered to take custody of Liam to spare him detention, but officers refused. "I have viewed the legal paperwork with my own eyes. Why detain a five-year-old? You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal," Stenvik said in a statement quoted by The Guardian.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offered a different version of events. In a statement posted on X, ICE claimed, "A criminal illegal alien ABANDONED his child as he fled from ICE officers, and our officers ensured the child was kept SAFE in the bitter cold." The agency further asserted that multiple attempts were made to transfer custody of the child to family members inside the home, but they refused. DHS, in a statement to CBS News, insisted, "ICE did NOT target or arrest a child." U.S. Vice President JD Vance echoed this defense, telling reporters, "The father ran. Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?"

But the family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, strongly refuted these claims, telling BBC that Liam and his father "did everything right" when they entered the U.S. from Ecuador in 2024. Prokosch explained that the family entered at a legal port of entry, used the CBP One app, made an appointment, and presented themselves to Customs and Border Protection. "This family was not eluding ICE in any way. They were following all the established protocols pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings and pose no safety, no flight risk, and never should have been detained," he said.

The incident quickly drew national outrage, fueled in part by a viral photo of Liam—bundled in a bunny hat and plaid coat—standing outside his home. The image became a symbol of what many critics saw as the Trump administration’s heavy-handed approach to immigration enforcement. According to USA TODAY, the arrest, along with other high-profile incidents involving federal agents, sparked protests in Minneapolis and across the country.

Inside the Dilley detention center, conditions were described as grim. Representatives Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett visited the facility and reported encountering children who were "mentally broken because of the trauma that they’re experiencing." Crockett noted that children told her, "we’re not in school," contradicting statements from facility staff. Liam’s father told the representatives that his son was often tired and not eating well during their stay in the center, which was housing approximately 1,100 people at the time, according to Castro.

The Columbia Heights public school district, which had four other students being held at Dilley, expressed relief at Liam’s release but called for broader action. "Liam’s release is an important development, and we hope it will lead to positive developments for other families as well, including our other four students who are being held at the Dilley facility in Texas," a spokesperson said. "We want all children to be released from detention centers and hope for the reunification of families who have been unjustly separated."

The legal turning point came on January 31, 2026, when U.S. District Judge Fred Biery granted an emergency request for the pair’s release. In a sharply worded ruling, Biery condemned their detention as the result of "the ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children." He drew historical parallels, writing, "Thirty-three-year-old Thomas Jefferson enumerated grievances against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation ... 'We the people' are hearing echoes of that history." Biery, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, emphasized that deportations should occur in a more orderly and humane fashion.

Following their release, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was halting all movement at the Dilley facility after medical staff confirmed two detainees had active measles infections. The incident highlighted concerns not only about the psychological toll of detention on children but also about health and safety risks in crowded facilities.

The broader context is sobering. According to records obtained by the Deportation Data Project and cited by The Guardian, ICE booked approximately 3,800 minors into immigrant family detention centers from January to October 2025. The exact number of children currently held in such facilities remains unclear, but the case of Liam and his father has renewed calls for reform.

Political perspectives on the case remain deeply divided. Advocates for immigration enforcement, including the Trump administration and Vice President Vance, argue that ICE must uphold the law and cannot be faulted for situations where parents allegedly evade authorities. Critics, including Democratic lawmakers and school officials, contend that the system is needlessly punitive and traumatizes children who pose no threat.

For now, Liam is back in Minneapolis, his story a testament to the power of public outcry—and a stark reminder of the human costs embedded in America’s immigration debate. As Congressman Castro wrote in a note to Liam, the hope is that he will "judge the United States not by your days at Dilley but by the millions of Americans whose hearts you touched."