A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday that blocks the Trump administration from removing a 5-year-old boy who was detained by immigration authorities in Minnesota last week.
Liam Conejo Ramos was taken with his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, after the pair returned home Jan. 20 from Liam’s preschool, according to Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools. A witness said she heard an adult inside the home pleading with agents to leave the child.
The Department of Homeland Security said Conejo Arias fled from agents who approached his car, leaving Liam.
“For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” DHS said.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denied accusations that the child was targeted, saying Liam’s mother refused officers’ attempts to have her take custody of the boy. His father agreed to keep Liam in his care.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment after Tuesday’s decision.
Both Liam and his father were moved from Minnesota to Texas, and the restraining order says they are in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.
Tuesday’s order prevents them from being removed or transferred outside the District of Western Texas pending a further directive from the court.
The case has drawn scrutiny from critics who have accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement of using children as “bait.”
McLaughlin, the DHS spokesperson, has defended the agency’s actions.
“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,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement.”
School board Chair Mary Granlund said she was driving to pick up her own children when she saw activity near the family’s house. She insisted that she saw Liam’s mother inside the home and that her husband yelled that she shouldn’t open the door, fearing that immigration officers would go inside.
Granlund said someone referred to her in saying a representative from the district was there and could assume responsibility for Liam.
“There was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults,” Granlund said.
The family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, said they entered the United States in 2023 after having booked an appointment through the CBP One app. The app was set up during the Biden administration to create an orderly way for migrants to enter the U.S. and to reduce illegal border crossings, but President Donald Trump shut it down last year.
“This family was not eluding ICE in any way,” Prokosch said last week. “They were following all the established protocols pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings, and pose no safety, no flight risk never should have been detained.”
Attorneys representing the Conejo Arias family were not immediately available for comment after the judge’s order Tuesday.
