Judge blocks removal of 5-year-old detained by ICE in Minnesota
A federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked the removal of a 5-year-old and his father who were detained last week as part of the federal government's ongoing immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was apprehended by immigration officials shortly after arriving home from preschool while his father was in their driveway, school officials said last week.
In the order issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said that Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, cannot be removed from the district in Texas pending the habeas case challenging their detention.
"Respondents SHALL NOT TRANSFER Petitioners Adrian Conejo Arias and L.C.R., a minor child, outside of this judicial district during the pendency of this litigation and until further Order of this Court," Judge Biery wrote.
The father and son, at the time of their detention, had a pending asylum case but no order of deportation directing that they be removed from the United States.
"Liam and his dad did enter the United States at a port of entry to seek asylum through the CBP One app. They used the app, they made an appointment. They came to the border and presented themselves to Customs and Border Protection," the family's attorney, Marc Prokosch, said. "These are not illegal aliens. They came properly."
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said, "ICE did NOT target a child," saying that he had been abandoned.
"On January 20, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, an illegal alien from Ecuador who was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration," the statement said. "As agents approached the driver, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot -- abandoning his child. For the child's safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias."
"Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration's immigration enforcement," the DHS statement said.
DHS' account differs from what the family's attorney and schools officials said occurred.
"Another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let them take care of the small child, but was refused," officials from Conejo Ramos' school said.
