Judge blocks ICE from deporting or transferring 5-year-old and his father

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A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily barred federal immigration officials from deporting 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father or transferring them away from the Texas region where they're currently held.

Liam and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos, were taken into custody in Minnesota earlier this month as part of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation captured on videos and photos that sparked outrage. Images that garnered national attention depicted Liam wearing a blue bunny hat and his school backpack.

The two are currently detained at the Dilley ICE detention center, a facility in Texas designed to house immigrant families with underage children who have been accused of violating federal immigration law.

CBS News exclusively reported last week that the government could not immediately deport Liam and his father, because they have pending immigration court cases that have not been fully adjudicated.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/judge-blocks-ice-deporting-transferring-211459983.html

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1. Judge orders release of 5-year-old detained by ICE in Minneapolis

Below his signature on the order, the judge included a photo of Liam Ramos as he was taken into custody wearing a Spider-Man backpack and bright blue hat.

Judge orders release of 5-year-old detained by ICE in Minneapolis

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...

— Greg Hernandez (@ghnarrator.bsky.social) 2026-01-31T21:42:13.473Z

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/01/31/minnesota-5-year-old-release-ice

A federal judge has ordered 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, to be released from federal immigration custody after the pair were detained in their driveway in Minnesota last week, sparking outrage nationwide and protests at the family detention center in Dilley, Texas, where they have been held.

In a sharply worded statement, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said the administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to its own agents “do not pass probable cause muster.”

“That is called the fox guarding the henhouse,” he wrote. “The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.”

Below his signature, the judge also included the now well-known photo of Ramos as he was taken into custody wearing a Spider-Man backpack and a bright blue hat. The photo and Liam’s detainment sparked outrage across the country and further inflamed tensions between Minnesota residents and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts there.,.....

The detention of children at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley has drawn mounting backlash in recent weeks. Outside the heavily secured compound on Wednesday, hundreds of faith leaders, labor organizers and advocates marched toward the detention center, calling for the release of families held inside.

In a statement Saturday afternoon, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) thanked people across the country and world for “speaking out in support of Liam and so many other children in detention.” He added that he had also reached out to Liam’s mom and lawyers to tell them he would continue “to do everything I can to make sure he is safe.”

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