Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, asylum seekers who were detained by federal agents last week and sent to a Texas detention facility, arrived back in Minneapolis on Sunday after a judge ordered the government to release them.
“I’m happy to finally be going home,” Conejo Arias, who is originally from Ecuador, told ABC News’ John Quiñones in an exclusive interview as the pair flew from San Antonio back to Minneapolis.
“Liam is very happy to be going back,” Conejo Arias added. “He’s going to see his mom and his brother again.”
Exclusive ABC News videos show Conejo Arias carrying his son while boarding the plane home.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery had ordered on Saturday that the pair be released from the immigration detention center at Dilley “as soon as practicable” but no later than Feb. 3.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, who last week shared images of the boy after his visit to the detention center, also boarded the flight with the father and son.
5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, father ordered released from immigration detention center
Liam was detained on Jan. 20 by immigration agents shortly after arriving home from preschool while his father was in their driveway, school officials said last week.
Conejo Arias told ABC News during Sunday’s flight home that he had just returned to their home in Minneapolis from picking up his son at preschool when they were detained.
“When we got home, we parked the car and were about to get out. That’s when several agents emerged [from their vehicles] and detained us,” Conejo Arias said.
Both were taken to a federal detention facility in Texas.
They had a pending asylum case but no order of deportation directing that they be removed from the United States, ABC News previously reported.
In the order releasing Liam and his father, Biery said 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.”
“Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency,” the judge wrote. “And the rule of law be damned.”
But in a statement after the judge’s ruling on Saturday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “The facts in this case have NOT changed: ICE did NOT target or arrest a child.”
“On January 20, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias an illegal alien from Ecuador who was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration,” McLaughlin said. “As agents approached, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias fled on foot — abandoning his child.”
McLaughlin said ICE officers remained with Liam while other officers apprehended his father. Officers, according to McLaughlin, attempted to place Liam with his “alleged mother” who was inside the house, but she allegedly refused to accept custody of the child.
McLaughlin said Conejo Arias told officers he wanted his son to remain with him.
The DHS account differs from what the Conejo Arias, his family’s attorney and schools officials said occurred.
Conejo Arias said said that when he was detained, he was walking a few feet ahead of his son, trying to alert people who “would come out who could help” them.
“I love my son too much. I would never abandon him,” Conejo Arias said.
Officials from Liam’s school said another adult living in the home was outside begging the agents to allow them to take care of the child, but the request was denied.
Conejo Aria described the conditions inside the Texas detention facility where they were held as “not great.” He said when his son got sick in the facility, he was denied medication.
“We asked for medication, but we were told they didn’t have any,” Conejo Arias said. “The doctor said she didn’t have any to give us.”
Judge Biery said that the father and son ultimately may “return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation,” but added that it should be a result “through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place.”
But Conejo Arias told ABC News on Sunday that he wants to remain in the United States with his family, saying they fled Ecuador out of fear.
“I asked for asylum to be be here for my family, for my children,” Conejo Arias said. “I’m here because I’m scared of returning to my country.”
He said their asylum case is currently in the process and that he and his family “came in with all the requirements.” He said his first court hearing is scheduled for later in February.
Conejo Arias said his message to the federal government is to “not to be so unfair with the Latino population.”
“Many times, it’s unjust that they arrest people who only come to this country to work hard and help their families get ahead,” Conejo Arias said. “In my case, we were also arrested unjustly.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
