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A U.S. federal judge has issued a temporary order prohibiting removal of a five-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father whose arrest last week in Minnesota quickly become another lightning rod for America’s divisions on immigration under the Trump administration.
U.S. Judge Fred Biery ruled Monday that any removal or transfer of Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, is on hold while a court case proceeds.
The father and son are currently at family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, around 1,900 kilometres south of their home in Columbia Heights, Minn.
They were taken into custody outside their home last week. Neighbours and school officials said federal immigration officers used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer.
The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said Arias fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.
Five-year-old Liam Ramos was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Tuesday during an operation to arrest his father, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. The family’s lawyer said both are now in custody at an ICE detention centre in Dilley, Texas.
Ramos’s attorney, Jennifer Scarborough, and the Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to phone or email messages from The Associated Press seeking comment about the ruling.
Federal officials say the father was in the U.S. illegally, without offering details. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said the man entered the country without proper documents in December 2024.
The family’s attorney said he had a pending asylum claim allowing him to stay in the country.
