A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to release a 5-year-old boy and his father from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center after both were taken into custody as part of an immigration operation in Minneapolis.
Five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were arrested as ICE officers targeted Arias, who the Department of Homeland Security says is an illegal immigrant from Ecuador. Shortly after the arrest, images of Ramos being held by an officer spread online, leading to significant backlash over the administration’s mass deportation agenda. The DHS insisted that Arias “abandoned” his child when he fled from officers, with the one officer staying with Ramos for protection until Arias was arrested. But both ended up being sent to a federal detention center in Texas, where they have been held for over a week.
District Judge Fred Biery issued an unusually-worded and fiery legal order on Saturday granting both of their releases, in which he was sharply critical of the administration.
“Before the Court is the petition of asylum seeker Adrian Conejo Arias and his five-year-old son
for protection of the Great Writ of habeas corpus. They seek nothing more than some modicum of due process and the rule of law,” the order said. “Accordingly, the Court finds that the Constitution of these United States trumps this administration’s detention of petitioner Adrian Conejo Arias and his minor son, L.C.R. The Great Writ and release from detention are GRANTED pursuant to the attached Judgment.”
Biery’s ruling mandates the two be released no later than Feb. 3 and “under appropriate conditions of release no more restrictive than those in place” before their detention by ICE.
“Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to
their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more
orderly and humane policy than currently in place,” he concluded, attaching the viral image of Ramos to the order.
The ruling comes amid widespread scrutiny of the administration’s deportation agenda and its tactics and quotas to achieve it after 37-year-old Alex Pretti was killed by Border Patrol agents last weekend in Minneapolis.
MINNESOTA JUDGE REFUSES TO BLOCK OPERATION METRO SURGE IN MINNEAPOLIS
The incident has led to, among other things, the demotion of Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who spearheaded Operation Metro Surge targeting illegal immigrants in Minneapolis.
A federal judge has, however, allowed that operation to continue. On Saturday, District Judge Katherine Menendez refused to grant a preliminary injunction request from Minnesota officials, saying their legal claims, and their usage of the 10th Amendment, lacked evidence.
