Federal Judge Halts Removal of 5‑Year‑Old and Father Seized in Minnesota ICE Arrest

A federal judge in Texas has issued a temporary order blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement from removing or transferring 5‑year‑old Ecuadorian boy Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, whose Minnesota arrest last week became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s interior‑enforcement surge. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ruled Monday that the pair must remain where they are while a court case proceeds, effectively freezing their status as detainees at the family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, near San Antonio. The two were taken into custody in Minnesota in an incident that quickly drew national outrage and claims that ICE used the child as bait, accusations DHS disputes, and their rapid transfer to Texas had raised fears among advocates that they could be deported before courts could review their asylum claims. Biery’s order adds a new legal constraint on DHS and ICE operations tied to Operation Metro Surge and underscores how individual family cases are now being used by federal judges to put at least temporary brakes on elements of Trump’s mass‑deportation campaign. Immigrant‑rights lawyers and Minnesota officials are pointing to the ruling on social media as evidence that courts are starting to push back on what they call "deportation by ambush," while administration allies frame it as another example of the judiciary hamstringing lawful enforcement.