5-Year-Old boy detained by ICE is spared from deportation

By Katie Dusza, News Editor

A federal judge temporarily blocked federal immigration officials from deporting a five-year-old and his father. The boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota after arriving home from preschool. The arrest sparked nationwide outrage as photos and videos of the child wearing a blue bunny hat and his school backpack at the time of the detainment circulated. 

Conejo Ramos and Conejo Arias are currently detained in an ICE detention center in Texas. This center is specifically designed for immigrant families with underage children who have been accused of violating immigration laws. 

CBS reports that the two could not immediately be deported due to “pending immigration court cases that have not been fully adjudicated.” 

U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery wrote in the ruling, "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." 

The two were detained on Jan. 20 in the Minneapolis area following the largest operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed. The Columbia Heights, Minn. community has been shaken by the five-year-old as well as three other students of the Columbia Heights Public School District were taken. "Why detain a five-year-old?" You can't tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal," said Superintendent Zena Stenvik. 

The DHS said the child was not targeted by ICE, rather he was ‘abandoned’ by his father, who they claim to be an illegal alien from Ecuador while he was trying to flee arrest.

They claim one of the ICE officers stayed with Conejo Ramos while the other officers detained Conejo Arias “for the child’s safety.” The DHS statement continued, "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.

DHS' account differs from what the family's attorney, Marc Prokosch, and school 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.

"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."