A federal judge ordered the release of Adrian Conejo Arias and his five-year-old son, Liam Conejo Ramos, after the two were detained during an immigration raid in a Minneapolis suburb and held in a detention facility in Texas, officials said.
U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, posted on social media that he picked up the father and son on Saturday night at the detention facility in Dilley, Texas and escorted them back to Minnesota on Sunday. Castro wrote that "Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack," and added, "We won’t stop until all children and families are home."
A photograph that circulated widely last month showed Liam wearing a blue bunny hat outside his house with federal agents standing nearby. The Columbia Heights Public School District said Liam was one of four students detained by immigration officials in the Minneapolis-area enforcement action.
Officials said the boy and his father, both from Ecuador, entered the United States legally as asylum applicants and had been held at the facility in Dilley. Their release followed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Fred Biery on Saturday.
In his written decision, Judge Biery criticized aspects of the government’s enforcement approach, writing that the case grew out of what he described as "the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children." Biery, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, also cited the Constitution’s requirement that arrest warrants be based on a judge finding probable cause of a crime. He wrote that the use of "administrative warrants" issued by immigration officials "is called the fox guarding the henhouse."
The detentions and the judge’s remarks have fueled calls from Democratic lawmakers for reforms to immigration enforcement procedures. Those calls include proposals for mandatory body cameras for agents, an end to roving patrols and a halt to the use of face masks by federal officers during operations, according to lawmakers advocating for change.
The episode also intersects with a broader political dispute over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Lawmakers from both parties remain in negotiations over a DHS funding bill, and the issue has delayed final appropriation decisions, according to officials and reporting.
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, said "We’ll be talking about that in the near future." Some Republican municipal leaders have also indicated openness to reviewing enforcement practices.
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, speaking on CBS’s "Face the Nation," said mayors are "caught in a little bit of an impossible situation" when federal immigration enforcers operate in their cities. Holt said events in Minneapolis threaten to erode the trust that municipal authorities have built with residents over time. His comments came after an order from the president directing the Department of Homeland Security to refrain from engaging with protesters unless federal property is at risk or local officials request assistance.
Context and immediate developments
- A federal judge ordered the release of Adrian Conejo Arias and his son, Liam, after they were detained in a Minneapolis-area raid and held in Dilley, Texas.
- Representative Joaquin Castro retrieved the pair from the detention facility and escorted them back to Minnesota, reporting the reunion on social media.
- Judge Fred Biery criticized the government’s use of administrative warrants and referenced alleged daily deportation quotas in his ruling.
What remains unresolved
- The broader policy changes sought by lawmakers remain under discussion amid ongoing negotiations over DHS funding.
- Local officials and municipal leaders continue to weigh how to respond to federal enforcement actions that they say may harm community trust.