A federal judge on Saturday ordered the release of a 5-year-old boy whose detention by immigration authorities in Minnesota last week sparked international outcry.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said in a scathing court order that the Trump administration must release Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrián Alexander Conejo Arias, by Tuesday.
The father and son were taken into custody by immigration authorities on Jan. 20, as the child was on his way home from preschool. The pair have since been detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.
The case drew widespread outrage after an image of Liam — wearing a blue hat and a backpack as he was being taken into custody by immigration authorities — went viral online.
“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,” Biery wrote in his order, referring to the boy’s detention. “And the rule of law be damned.”
Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment.
The legal team representing Liam and his father said in a statement that they were grateful for the court's swift decision.
"We are now working closely with our clients and their family to ensure a safe and timely reunion," they said. "We are pleased that the family will now be able to focus on being together and finding some peace after this traumatic ordeal."
Luis Conejo, Liam's uncle and brother to Liam’s father, said in a video message sent to Noticias Telemundo that he feels “great joy knowing they can soon go home” and that Liam will be reunited with his mother.
“We are not close [physically], but well, that will soon come. When they are released, it will be a joy to be reunited,” he added.
Liam and his father were confronted by immigration authorities outside of their home as they were returning from the child’s preschool, according to Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools.
A school board member who witnessed the father’s arrest said that she heard an adult inside the home pleading with agents to leave the child.
The boy’s mother, Erika Ramos, said she “witnessed the scene from the window and couldn’t do anything. Adrián begged me repeatedly not to go outside because he was afraid they would arrest me too.”
She said that when immigration authorities noticed her at the window, they took Liam out of their vehicle and brought him to the front door.
“They used my boy as bait,” Erika Ramos said. “Even so, my husband desperately insisted that I not go out, especially because we have another child and I am pregnant.”
DHS has repeatedly denied using Ramos as “bait,” saying instead that Liam’s father ran off without him to evade capture.
“For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” DHS said in a statement on Friday.
Ramos disputed DHS’ account of the events.
“I repeat, at no point did my husband do what they’re saying, abandon my son,” she said. “No, at no point did he do that.”
Liam was one of four minors apprehended by immigration authorities last week, Twin Cities school district officials said.
Their captures are part of the Trump administration’s broader immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, known as Operation Metro Surge.
Since December, the federal government has sent 3,000 immigration agents to the state and made more than 3,000 apprehensions of undocumented immigrants, according to DHS.
In addition to the child apprehensions, the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, 37, by federal immigration authorities have sparked outcry and daily protests.
