A five-year-old boy detained in Trump administration immigration raids in Minneapolis is back home after a judge ordered his release.
WASHINGTON: A five-year-old boy whose detention during aggressive US immigration raids sparked global outrage is now back home.
Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro announced the child’s return on Sunday after a judge ordered his release from a Texas detention centre.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, on January 20.
The asylum seekers from Ecuador were taken into custody as the boy arrived home from preschool in Minneapolis.
Images of the child in a blue bunny hat and backpack being held by officers fuelled public anger over the federal crackdown.
The father and son spent 10 days in detention hundreds of miles from home before being freed on Saturday.
“Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack,” Castro wrote on X alongside photos of the child.
The Trump administration defended the detention by claiming ICE acted after the father tried to flee from agents.
During a visit to the detention centre last week, Castro said the boy’s father described him as sad and depressed.
“His dad said that he hasn’t been himself,” Castro wrote at the time.
US District Judge Fred Biery ordered the boy’s release in a scathing opinion criticising the government’s actions.
He said the case originated from an “ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas.”
Judge Biery added this pursuit continued “apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”
He criticised the government’s apparent “ignorance” of the US Declaration of Independence and cited the Fourth Amendment.
The constitutional amendment protects the right against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Following the ruling, Castro travelled to pick up the boy and his father and flew home with them to Minnesota.
“We won’t stop until all children and families are home,” the congressman wrote.
