Five-year-old boy detained by ICE has returned to Minnesota, lawmaker says

Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old boy, and his father have returned to their home in a suburb of Minneapolis after being detained by U.S. immigration officials in Texas, a lawmaker reported on Sunday. A federal judge ordered the release of Adrian Conejo Arias and his son on Saturday. They had been taken during an immigration raid in Minnesota. U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, shared on social media that he picked them up from the detention center on Saturday night and brought them back to Minnesota on Sunday. “Liam is now home. He has his hat and backpack,” Castro stated. “We won’t stop until all children and families are home.” A widely shared photo from last month shows Liam in a blue bunny hat outside his house with federal agents nearby. He was one of four students taken by immigration officials in a Minneapolis suburb, according to the Columbia Heights Public School District. The Ecuadorean boy and his father had entered the United States legally as asylum seekers, but they were held at a facility in Dilley, Texas. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery noted in his ruling on Saturday that the situation arose from “the poorly thought out and badly executed government focus on daily deportation quotas, even if it harms children.” Biery, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, mentioned that the Constitution requires an arrest warrant to be based on a judge's finding of probable cause for a crime. He criticized the use of “administrative warrants” from immigration officials as “the fox guarding the henhouse.” Democrats have called for changes following large immigration operations in Minnesota and other states, as well as two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis involving ICE agents. Their demands include mandatory body cameras, ending roving patrols, and stopping the use of face masks. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security is currently stalled as Republicans and Democrats continue to negotiate a DHS bill. “We’ll be discussing that soon,” President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.