A judge ordered their release on Saturday, nearly two weeks after both were detained by ICE agents in Minnesota and transferred to a detention facility in Texas.
MINNESOTA, USA — 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, return to Minnesota on Sunday morning.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, published a photo of Liam Ramos and his dad, saying that he accompanied both upon their release from Dilley detention center on Saturday and arrival in Minnesota on Sunday.
“Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack,” wrote Castro.
This comes after the U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ruled on Saturday that both should be released from immigration custody. Liam was taken by federal agents after getting home from Valley View Elementary School on Jan. 20. His father was detained alongside the boy, and both were transferred to a detention facility in Texas.
Liam’s story caught public attention after a photo of him being detained while wearing his blue bunny hat and a Spiderman backpack went viral. This photo gained nationwide criticism of the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik condemned the preschoolers’ detention, saying, “You can’t tell me this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
The Department of Homeland Security claims they were conducting an operation to arrest Liam’s father when he allegedly “fled on foot, abandoning his child.” The DHS also said that ICE agents attempted to get Liam’s mother to take her son, but she “refused to accept the custody of the child.” Columbia Heights School board chair Mary Granlund said she was there on the scene, and the mother was not outside.
According to the family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, Liam’s father is not an “illegal alien” and was in the process of seeking asylum at the time of his detention. Prokosch said that the family entered the United States in 2024 through a port of entry and has been following the law.
Arias doesn’t have any criminal charges, according to Prokosch. KARE 11 also has not been able to find any criminal charges against the father.
Valley View Elementary School in Columbia Heights says that since Liam’s detention, two more students and at least 25 parents have been detained by immigration agents. The school, with a student population of 570, says they are in crisis.