Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, detained by immigration officers in Minnesota and held at an ICE facility in Texas, have been released following a judge’s order and returned to Minnesota, confirmed Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro.
Liam and his father were apprehended in a Minneapolis suburb on January 20 and subsequently transported to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.
Katherine Schneider, a spokesperson for Representative Castro, stated that the congressman personally accompanied them back to Minnesota after picking them up from the Texas facility. The news of their release has sparked significant reactions across social media and local communities.
The detention of Liam, depicted wearing a bunny hat and carrying a Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers, drew widespread outrage and criticism towards immigration enforcement practices under the Trump administration. Community members and school officials voiced their anger, alleging that federal agents had used the young child as 'bait' to reach his mother, a claim the Department of Homeland Security has dismissed as an 'abject lie.'
Representative Castro emphasized in his letter to Liam, which he shared via social media during their flight back home, that the boy had 'moved the world' with his story. He reassured Liam that he is welcomed and should never be made to feel otherwise, noting the vital role immigrants play in America's success. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar also welcomed Liam back, stating emphatically that he belongs in school with his family, not in detention, and urged for ICE to stop its practices against families.
