ICE Detainee, 5, Goes Home

A 5-year-old boy and his father who were held in a Texas immigration facility returned to Minneapolis on Sunday after a federal judge ordered their release. Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, asylum seekers from Ecuador, flew home from San Antonio under a court order requiring their release from the Dilley detention center no later than Feb. 3. "I'm happy to finally be going home," Conejo Arias told ABC News. Liam was eager to see his mother and brother again, his father said. The two were detained Jan. 20 by immigration agents outside their Minneapolis-area home, shortly after Liam returned from preschool.

They were transferred to a federal facility in Texas despite having a pending asylum claim and no deportation order. US District Judge Fred Biery, in his ruling issued Saturday, sharply criticized the government's conduct, saying the case arose from a poorly executed effort to meet deportation quotas "even if it requires traumatizing children." The Department of Homeland Security disputes that account. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not target a child but carried out a "targeted operation" to arrest Conejo Arias, whom she described as an "illegal alien" previously released into the US by the Biden administration. Biery noted that the family could still be removed to Ecuador but said that should happen only under a more "orderly and humane" policy.

Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, picked the father and son up at the detention center on Saturday night and escorted them home Sunday, his office said, per the AP. Conejo Arias described conditions in detention as "not great," saying Liam became ill and was not given medication because the staff said none was available. Conejo Arias said he hopes to remain in the US with his family, citing fear of returning to Ecuador, and said his first asylum hearing is scheduled for this month. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota welcomed Liam home in a post, saying the child "should be in school and with family—not in detention." She added, "Now ICE needs to leave."