Home for the Boy with the Bunny Hat: Judge Orders Release of 5-Year-Old Liam Conejo Ramos from ICE Custody
A five-year-old boy whose image became an unexpected symbol of the national debate over immigration enforcement is finally home. Liam Conejo Ramos, who captured the country’s attention when he was detained wearing a bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack, was released from federal custody over the weekend and has returned to his family in Minnesota, according to his legal team.
Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, were taken into custody on January 20, 2026, in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights. The circumstances of their apprehension sparked immediate national outcry. School officials and eyewitnesses claimed federal agents used the preschooler as “bait” to lure his family out of the house. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fiercely disputed this account, arguing that Mr. Conejo Arias had attempted to flee and abandoned his son in a running vehicle.
A Scathing Judicial Rebuke
The father and son, originally from Ecuador and with a pending asylum claim, were transported over 1,500 miles to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Their detention quickly spurred a legal challenge from their lawyers, Marc Prokosch and Jennifer Scarborough.
The ordeal came to an end when U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio granted an emergency request for their release. In a searing opinion, the judge did not mince words, excoriating the federal government. He wrote that the case “has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.” Judge Biery ordered their release by Tuesday, February 3, and Liam and his father returned to Minnesota on Sunday morning.
“Lethargic” and Detained
Reports detailing Liam’s time in the Texas facility painted a concerning picture of detention. Congressional representatives who visited the South Texas center in Dilley described Liam as “lethargic” and “very depressed.” His father reportedly told the lawmakers that the boy had not been eating well. The Dilley facility, which holds approximately 1,100 people, has faced repeated criticisms from attorneys who reported poor living conditions, including poor medical care and reports of worms in the food.
The detention of the Conejo family was one of the most high-profile incidents resulting from the federal government’s controversial “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota. Described by DHS as the “largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out,” the surge has involved a massive deployment of agents to the Twin Cities area and has led to widespread fear, protests, and civil unrest in the local immigrant community.
For now, a young boy with a Spider-Man backpack has traded the barbed wire of a Texas detention facility for his home in Minnesota. While the family’s long-term legal battle continues, their release offers a rare moment of relief and reunion for a family caught in the crosshairs of an aggressive immigration enforcement policy.
