A five-year-old boy and his father have returned to their home in a Minneapolis suburb after being detained by U.S. immigration officers and held for weeks at a detention facility in Texas, according to a U.S. lawmaker.
Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, were released after a federal judge ordered their detention unlawful. U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro said he collected them from the Dilley detention centre in Texas late Saturday and accompanied them back to Minnesota on Sunday.
“Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack,” Castro wrote on social media. “We won’t stop until all children and families are home.”
The case drew national attention after a photo circulated widely online showing Liam, wearing a blue bunny hat, standing outside his home as federal immigration agents looked on. He was one of four students detained during an immigration enforcement operation in a Minneapolis suburb, the Columbia Heights Public School District said.
Liam and his father, who are Ecuadoran nationals, entered the United States legally as asylum applicants. They were detained during a raid in Minnesota and transferred to Texas, where they were held at a family detention facility.
In his ruling on Saturday, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery sharply criticised the operation, writing that the case stemmed from “the ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas”, adding that it appeared to have involved “traumatising children”.
Biery said the arrests relied on administrative warrants issued by immigration officials rather than judicial warrants, which he described as “the fox guarding the henhouse”. He stressed that the U.S. Constitution requires a judge to determine probable cause before an arrest.
The case has intensified calls for reform of immigration enforcement practices, particularly following large-scale operations in Minnesota and other states. Democratic lawmakers have demanded mandatory body cameras for agents, an end to roving patrols and limits on the use of face coverings by officers.
The controversy follows two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis involving ICE agents earlier this year, incidents that have fuelled public anger and protests nationwide.
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security remains stalled in Congress as Republicans and Democrats continue negotiations. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that discussions would continue “in the near future”.
Some Republican officials have also signalled openness to changes. Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said cities were being placed in an “impossible situation” by federal immigration enforcement, warning that aggressive tactics risk eroding trust between local authorities and communities.
Holt spoke a day after Trump ordered DHS to avoid engagement with protesters unless federal property is threatened or local officials request assistance.
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