‘Imposition of cruelty’: Federal judge orders release of 5-year old detained by ICE over its ‘perfidious lust for unbridled power’

A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, from immigration custody after a detention that sparked nationwide fury. This is a huge development, and honestly, it’s about time this family got some relief after what they’ve been through.

Judge Fred Biery of the Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a truly blistering opinion on Saturday, condemning the removal of the preschooler and his father from their suburban Minneapolis neighborhood as flat-out unconstitutional. The judge did not mince words when describing the government’s tactics per NY Times, slamming what he called “the imposition of cruelty” and “the perfidious lust for unbridled power.”

The image of Liam, a preschooler in a fluffy blue winter hat and a Spider-Man backpack being led away by agents, went viral immediately. Liam was returning home from school with his father in Columbia Heights, a Minneapolis suburb. It’s incredibly upsetting when you see something like this happen to a kid who is just coming home.

Some people won’t let the cruel ICE goons go mad with power

This detention fueled massive outrage across the country, especially since the Trump administration’s “Operation Metro Surge” had already flooded Minneapolis with enforcement officers. That operation has led to mass demonstrations and, tragically, the shooting deaths of two protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of federal agents. Judge Biery specifically linked the detention to the government’s pursuit of quotas.

Biery stated that the case had its genesis in the “ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.” The father, Mr. Conejo Arias, is from Ecuador, and his legal team insists he entered the country legally under American guidelines for asylum.

They stressed that the family is following US legal parameters and has an active asylum case with no deportation order. Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of the Columbia Heights public school district, even confirmed she saw the legal paperwork herself. She questioned the agents’ actions, wondering aloud, “Why detain a five-year-old? You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”

However, the Department of Homeland Security maintains a totally different story. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the department, claimed late on Saturday that the father tried to flee and then asked his son to remain with him. She also claimed the “alleged mother refused to accept custody of the child.” This directly contradicts the accounts given by school officials, who reported that another adult in the family home pleaded unsuccessfully with agents to take custody of Liam before he was detained.

After the arrest, the father and son were taken from Minnesota all the way down to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where they were held for more than a week. While the facility is run by the private prison company CoreCivic and is supposed to offer schooling and playgrounds, the reality seems much worse.

Representative Joaquin Castro and Representative Jasmine Crockett visited the facility last week and described “gruesome conditions.” They reported encountering children who were “mentally broken because of the trauma that they’re experiencing.” Mr. Conejo Arias told the representatives that Liam was frequently exhausted and wasn’t eating well at the detention center, which is housing about 1,100 people.

Thankfully, the family is back together now. Congressman Castro posted on X that he picked them up from the detention center and brought them back to Minneapolis early Sunday. “Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack,” he wrote.