A federal judge in Texas has ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from immigration detention, following an emergency request from their attorney. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery mandated that Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos and his son, who were apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month in Minnesota, be released “as soon as practicable,” with a deadline set for Tuesday, February 3.
Efforts to obtain a comment from the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, regarding the judge’s order were unsuccessful as of Saturday.
This week, Judge Biery had previously blocked ICE from deporting Liam and his family or transferring them away from Texas while the legal proceedings were ongoing. In his opinion accompanying the ruling, Biery criticized the government’s approach to immigration enforcement, stating that the detention of Liam and his father stemmed from poorly conceived policies aimed at meeting daily deportation quotas, even at the cost of traumatizing children.
Biery referenced the Declaration of Independence, lamenting the government’s apparent disregard for its principles. The judge’s opinion was notably accompanied by a poignant image of Liam wearing a blue bunny hat and carrying his school backpack shortly after their detention, which had sparked widespread outrage across the nation.
Liam Conejo Ramos was taken into custody by ICE officers on January 20, 2026, upon returning home from preschool in a suburb of Minneapolis. Since their detention, both Liam and his father have been housed at the Dilley ICE detention center in Texas, a facility designated for immigrant families with children who are facing allegations of violating federal immigration laws.
