5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, asylum seekers who have been detained by federal brokers final week and despatched to a Texas detention facility, arrived again in Minneapolis on Sunday after a decide ordered the federal government to launch them.
“I am blissful to lastly be going house,” Conejo Arias, who’s initially from Ecuador, advised ABC Information’ John Quiñones in an unique interview because the pair flew from San Antonio again to Minneapolis.
“Liam could be very blissful to be going again,” Conejo Arias added. “He will see his mother and his brother once more.”
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, will get a tour of the cockpit as he and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, head house, Feb. 1, 2026, to Minneapolis after being launched from a Texas detention facility.
ABC Information
Requested how he was feeling, Liam advised ABC Information in Spanish, “Good.”
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, have breakfast as they fly house to Minneapolis, Feb. 1, 2026, after being launched from a Texas immigration detention facility.
ABC Information
Unique ABC Information movies present Conejo Arias carrying his son whereas boarding the airplane house.
U.S. District Choose Fred Biery had ordered on Saturday that the pair be launched from the immigration detention middle at Dilley “as quickly as practicable” however no later than Feb. 3.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, who final week shared photographs of the boy after his go to to the detention middle, additionally boarded the flight with the daddy and son.
Liam was detained on Jan. 20 by immigration brokers shortly after arriving house from preschool whereas his father was of their driveway, college officers mentioned final week.
Conejo Arias advised ABC Information throughout Sunday’s flight house that he had simply returned to their house in Minneapolis from choosing up his son at preschool after they have been detained.
“After we bought house, we parked the automotive and have been about to get out. That’s when a number of brokers emerged [from their vehicles] and detained us,” Conejo Arias mentioned.
Each have been taken to a federal detention facility in Texas.
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, board a flight, Feb. 1, 2026, from San Antonio again to their house in Minneapolis after a federal decide ordered that they be launched from a Texas immigration detention facility.
ABC Information
They’d a pending asylum case however no order of deportation directing that they be faraway from the US, ABC Information beforehand reported.
Within the order releasing Liam and his father, Biery mentioned the case “has its genesis within the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented authorities pursuit of each day deportation quotas, apparently even when it requires traumatizing kids.”
“Observing human conduct confirms that for some amongst us, the perfidious lust for unbridled energy and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency,” the decide wrote. “And the rule of legislation be damned.”
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, is detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after arriving house from preschool, Jan. 20, 2026, in a Minneapolis suburb.
Ali Daniels through AP
However in a press release after the decide’s ruling on Saturday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin mentioned, “The information on this case have NOT modified: ICE did NOT goal or arrest a baby.”
“On January 20, ICE performed a focused operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias an unlawful alien from Ecuador who was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration,” McLaughlin mentioned. “As brokers approached, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias fled on foot — abandoning his little one.”
McLaughlin mentioned ICE officers remained with Liam whereas different officers apprehended his father. Officers, based on McLaughlin, tried to position Liam together with his “alleged mom” who was inside the home, however she allegedly refused to just accept custody of the kid.
McLaughlin mentioned Conejo Arias advised officers he wished his son to stay with him.
The DHS account differs from what the Conejo Arias, his household’s lawyer and colleges officers mentioned occurred.
Conejo Arias mentioned mentioned that when he was detained, he was strolling a couple of toes forward of his son, attempting to alert individuals who “would come out who might assist” them.
“I really like my son an excessive amount of. I’d by no means abandon him,” Conejo Arias mentioned.
Officers from Liam’s college mentioned one other grownup residing within the house was exterior begging the brokers to permit them to care for the kid, however the request was denied.
Conejo Aria described the situations contained in the Texas detention facility the place they have been held as “not nice.” He mentioned when his son bought sick within the facility, he was denied medicine.
“We requested for medicine, however we have been advised they did not have any,” Conejo Arias mentioned. “The physician mentioned she did not have any to provide us.”
Choose Biery mentioned that the daddy and son finally might “return to their house nation, involuntarily or by self-deportation,” however added that it ought to be a outcome “by a extra orderly and humane coverage than at present in place.”
However Conejo Arias advised ABC Information on Sunday that he desires to stay in the US together with his household, saying they fled Ecuador out of worry.
“I requested for asylum to be be right here for my household, for my kids,” Conejo Arias mentioned. “I am right here as a result of I am afraid of returning to my nation.”
He mentioned their asylum case is at present within the course of and that he and his household “got here in with all the necessities.” He mentioned his first courtroom listening to is scheduled for later in February.
Conejo Arias mentioned his message to the federal authorities is to “to not be so unfair with the Latino inhabitants.”
“Many instances, it’s unjust that they arrest individuals who solely come to this nation to work laborious and assist their households get forward,” Conejo Arias mentioned. “In my case, we have been additionally arrested unjustly.”
This can be a creating story. Please test again for updates.
