Trump Administration DOJ and DHS Policy

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that 5‑year‑old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who were arrested by ICE in Minneapolis on Jan. 20 and released from the Dilley, Texas, family detention center over the weekend under a federal court order, do not currently have a pending asylum case despite their lawyers’ assertions. In an interview on ABC’s "This Week," Blanche echoed DHS’s position that the pair are in the country illegally, saying there is a "very meaningful dispute" over whether they properly applied for asylum and that mere presence without legal status is itself a crime that justifies detention. He framed the legal fight as part of a broader "schism in the law" over whether non‑citizens must be detained or can be released on bond while immigration proceedings unfold, and defended the administration’s view that they should be held. The comments come amid intense backlash over the operation that seized Liam at school pickup, competing narratives about whether ICE used the child as "bait" or the father "abandoned" him, and a wave of protests and political pressure that culminated in Judge Fred Biery’s order to release the family. After their release, Rep. Joaquin Castro escorted them back to Minnesota and, alongside Rep. Ilhan Omar, publicly welcomed them home, highlighting how the case has become a national flashpoint over Trump‑era enforcement tactics, family detention, and the treatment of asylum seekers.