In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Conejo and the second or maternal family name is Ramos.
Detention of Liam Conejo Ramos
Part of Operation Metro Surge
Liam with his father after having been released
Location Columbia Heights, Minnesota, United States
Dilley Immigration Processing Center, Texas, United States
Date January 20, 2026; 44 days ago (2026-01-20)
Attack type
Detention of a child
Victim Liam Conejo Ramos
Perpetrators Agent(s) from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Motive Use of Conejo Ramos as "bait" to detain his parents, who are asylum seekers.
Verdict Federal Judge Fred Biery orders Liam and his father be released from detention on January 31, 2026.

On January 20, 2026, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old boy, on his walk home from school in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, amid the Operation Metro Surge deployment to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The child and his father Adrian Conejo Arias each had an active claim for asylum in the United States and were arrested in their driveway. According to witness statements and the family's attorney, there were multiple adults available to take custody of Liam, but ICE arrested him anyway.[1]

According to Spain's El País newspaper, "Images of [Conejo Ramos], wearing his blue hat and carrying a Spider-Man backpack, guarded by federal agents, instantly became a symbol of the indiscriminate nature of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the United States".[2]

Background

The Conejo Ramos family is from Ecuador and entered the United States in 2024 to request asylum.[3] According to their attorney, the father and son had a pending asylum case but no order of deportation at the time of their detention.[4] Government records indicate their immigration court case was docketed on December 17, 2024.[3]

Detention

On January 20, 2026, Conejo Ramos, a prekindergarten student at Valley View Elementary was approached by masked ICE agents as he returned home from school with his father. According to school officials, they took the boy to the door of the house and used him as "bait"[5][6] to get the residents to open the door. According to ICE, the father abandoned Liam in the driveway as he tried to flee, and ICE protected the child from the cold.[7] At the same time, ICE claimed that Liam's mother was inside the house. School officials suggested the pregnant[8] mother was likely fearful of opening the door.[9]

The ICE agents took Liam and his father away to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. According to their lawyer, the family emigrated to the US in 2024 from Ecuador and has an active asylum claim.[10][11] Conejo Ramos was the fourth student at the Columbia Heights School District to be detained by ICE. Earlier the same day, a 17-year-old student was taken from his car by ICE agents.[12]

On January 27, Federal Judge Fred Biery of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ordered the US government to not deport the father and son, nor remove them from the court's jurisdiction while the two pursued a legal challenge to their detention.[13] On January 31, Biery ordered that Ramos and his father be released.[14][15]

In his statement, Biery chose harsh words.[16] He condemned the detention of Liam and his father as driven by "perfidious lust for unbridled power".[17][18][19] Biery stated further that "[this] case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children. [20] He ended the judicial order with the viral photo of Liam being detained, accompanied by two Bible verses: Matthew 19:14 ("Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these'") and John 11:35 ("Jesus wept").[21]

Liam at his home with congressman Joaquin Castro

On February 1, Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian, were released and returned to Minneapolis. Upon learning of the news, Lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan said "We cannot stop until Liam, and all the children ICE has detained, are back in their own beds." Meanwhile, Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro, who has been supporting the Ramos family and advocating for their return, said: "Thank you to folks all across the country and around the world for speaking out in support of Liam and so many other children in detention." [21]

Public response

On January 24, dozens of detained children at the Dilley detention facility staged a demonstration in the detention center's yard, shouting "libertad" (Spanish for 'freedom').[22] Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik noted that the district received an outpouring of support, with community members creating origami rabbits in solidarity with Liam, whose surname Conejo means 'rabbit' in Spanish.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ WATCH: Lawyer for 5-year-old boy detained by ICE holds news conference. Retrieved 2026-01-30 – via www.youtube.com.
  2. ^ Jank Curbelo, Jesús; Leal, Nicholas Dale (2026-01-27). "Liam Conejo Ramos: The face of the hundreds of minors in immigration custody under the Trump administration". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
  3. ^ a b "5-year-old taken into custody by ICE has active immigration case, preventing deportation for now - CBS News". CBS News. 2026-01-24. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
  4. ^ "Judge blocks removal of 5-year-old detained by ICE in Minnesota". ABC News. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
  5. ^ Shockman, Elizabeth (2026-01-21). "ICE detains 5-year-old Minnesota boy; school leader says agents used him as 'bait'". MPR News. Archived from the original on January 22, 2026. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  6. ^ Jeong, Andrew (2026-01-22). "ICE detains four children from Minnesota school district, including 5-year-old". Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 23, 2026. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  7. ^ Epstein, Kayla (2026-01-22). "ICE detains five-year-old and father in Minnesota, lawyer says". BBC News. Archived from the original on January 24, 2026. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  8. ^ Alvarez, Priscilla; Boyette, Chris; Musa, Amanda (2026-01-22). "5-year-old boy taken by ICE in Minneapolis area being held with father at Texas facility". CNN. Archived from the original on January 22, 2026. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  9. ^ Zhou, Li; Demianyk, Graeme (2026-01-22). "ICE Detains 5-Year-Old Coming Home From Preschool In Minnesota". HuffPost. Archived from the original on January 23, 2026. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  10. ^ Bogel-Burroughs, Nicholas; Rao, Sonia A. (2026-01-22). "Detention of 5-Year-Old by Federal Agents Incenses Minneapolis". New York Times. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  11. ^ Raza, Sarah (2026-01-22). "Federal officers detain a 5-year-old boy who a school official says was used as 'bait'". AP News. Archived from the original on January 23, 2026. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  12. ^ Levin, Sam (2026-01-22). "ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy arriving home, say school officials". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
  13. ^ Bogel-Burroughs, Nicholas (2026-01-27). "Judge Temporarily Blocks Deportation of 5-Year-Old Detained by ICE in Minnesota". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
  14. ^ Wolfe, Elizabeth; Sottile, Zoe; Lavandera, Ed (January 31, 2026). "Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father be released from immigration detention". CNN. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
  15. ^ Muñoz, Alyssa; Jimenez, Mike (January 31, 2026). "Judge orders release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and father from Texas detention facility". KENS. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
  16. ^ faz.net
  17. ^ bbc.com
  18. ^ cnn.com: READ: District judge’s scathing opinion ordering release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos and father
  19. ^ www.documentcloud.org: full text
  20. ^ Mulvihill, Geoff (January 31, 2026). "Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his dad released from ICE detention". Associated Press. Retrieved February 1, 2026.
  21. ^ a b Sottile, Zoe; Wolfe, Elizabeth; Lavandera, Ed (2026-01-31). "Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father be released from immigration detention". CNN. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  22. ^ Davies, David Martin (2026-01-24). "Protest breaks out at Dilley immigration detention facility holding 5-year-old Liam Ramos". Texas Public Radio. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  23. ^ Thompson, Howard (2026-01-27). "Judge blocks deportation of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father". FOX 9. Retrieved 2026-01-28.