Liam Conejo Ramos Is Now Free. But Many Other Detained Children Remain At Risk

“The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children,” a judge wrote.

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his dad Adrian Conejo Arias are finally free and back home in Minnesota where they belong. “I’m happy to finally be going home,” Conejo Arias said according to ABC News. “Asked how he was feeling, Liam told ABC News in Spanish, ‘Good,’” the report said. Video footage shared by Rep. Joaquin Castro (TX-20) shows the family walking in freedom.

The pair were finally freed from a migrant family jail nearly two weeks after masked deportation agents used the boy as “bait” in order to detain the asylum-seekers despite the fact that they have been following the rules and have an open case. In a “scathing” ruling ordering the family’s release, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery “wrote that the father and son ‘seek nothing more than some modicum of due process and the rule of law,’” Mother Jones reported.

“The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children,” Judge Biery wrote, a reference to mass deportation architect-in-chief Stephen Miller’s demands that ICE sweep up 3,000 individuals per day no matter their criminal record or contributions to this country. “Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency,” Judge Biery continued. “And the rule of law be damned.”

Liam had reportedly fallen ill in the days before his release, suffering from a fever, vomiting and depression. “Unfortunately, Liam’s health is not doing great right now,” Zena Stenvik, superintendent for Liam’s Columbia Heights Public Schools District, said at the time. “‘So I’m very, very concerned about his well-being in that facility,’ referring to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where the father and son are being detained,” People reported Jan. 29. Thankfully, Liam did not appear to require hospitalization at the time of his release.

Following news of his release, Rep. Castro, who along with Reps. Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) and Greg Casar (TX-35) had visited the family in detention and demanded their freedom, shared a heartfelt letter he wrote to the boy affirming that America is his home and is where he belongs.

“No child should have to go through what you endured,” the letter began. “But, as you get older and you understand these words and this time, I hope you will judge America not by your days at Dilley but by the millions of Americans whose hearts you touched. Years ago Robert F. Kennedy spoke of those in history who moved the world. Even as a young boy you have moved the world.”

“Your family, school, and many strangers said prayers for you and offered whatever they could do to see you back home,” Rep. Castro continued in the letter. “Don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t your home. America became the most powerful, prosperous nation on Earth because of immigrants not in spite of them.”

Rep. Castro had shared that during his visits with Liam in detention, the boy had asked about the blue bunny knit cap and Spiderman backpack that are now associated with him in the minds of Americans everywhere. One of the photos shared by Rep. Castro following the family’s release showed Liam once again wearing his blue bunny knit cap. In just one showing of public support, many images from a #Comics4Liam campaign launched by graphic artists are also depicting Liam donning that now-trademark hat.

Liam should never have been detained in the first place – and the same applies to other vulnerable kids currently at risk in the federal government’s migrant family jail system. Liam’s detention “is not an isolated incident,” as The Guardian reported Jan. 23. The number of children in ICE detention has skyrocketed under Trump’s second administration. According to The Marshall Project’s analysis of data from the Deportation Data Project, ICE now holds around 170 children on an average day—more than six times the approximately 25 children detained daily during the final 16 months of the Biden administration. Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) news further reported that two other children from Liam’s school district have also been kidnapped by federal immigration officials in recent days.

The psychological harms alone of child detention “are enormous and irreparable,” as American Immigration Council Policy Director Nanya Gupta told People. In fact, the very migrant family jail where Liam and his dad were detained is now reporting two measles cases, confirming the dire harms that detention poses to children. The Biden administration had done the right thing by phasing out the use of migrant family jails. But in March 2025, private prison profiteer CoreCivic announced a deal with the Trump administration to revive family detention by reopening the Dilley site in order to again detain children and their parents. In a series of Bluesky posts, Rep. Castro called on Dilley’s immediate closure as a matter of public health.

“Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis welcomed the father and son home in a Sunday morning Facebook post, saying, ‘We’re glad you’re back,’” San Antonio Express-News reported. “U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota also celebrated Liam’s arrival, posting a photo of herself with the boy, his father and Castro on social media. ‘Liam is home now,’ she wrote.” The Daily Beast reported that Liam’s father “wants to stay in the United States with his family, saying they fled Ecuador because they were scared to return. ‘I asked for asylum to be here for my family, for my children,’ he said. ‘I’m here because I’m scared of returning to my country.’”

“Conejo Arias added that his message to the federal government was ‘not to be so unfair with the Latino population,’ arguing it is ‘unjust’ when people who come to work and support their families are detained,” the report continued.