Child Welfare and Federal Detention

A federal judge has temporarily barred ICE from deporting or transferring 5‑year‑old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, ordering they remain in the Western District of Texas while litigation proceeds; the pair are being held at the Dilley family detention center and have a pending immigration court (asylum) case docketed Dec. 17, 2024. The Minnesota arrest that led to their transfer has prompted competing accounts — Columbia Heights school officials and the family allege agents used the boy as “bait” to lure others, while DHS says the father fled and “abandoned” the child — fueling broader scrutiny of ICE’s tactics.