Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his dad released from ICE detention

A 5-year-old boy and his father must be released by Tuesday from the Texas center where they’ve been held after being detained by immigration officers in Minnesota, a federal judge ordered Saturday in a ruling that harshly criticized the Trump administration’s approach to enforcement.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos, wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack, being surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers sparked even more outcry about the administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, who sits in San Antonio and was appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, said in his ruling 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.”

Biery had previously ruled that the boy and his father could not be removed from the U.S., at least for now.

Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, who is originally from Ecuador, were detained in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Jan. 20. They were taken to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

Neighbors and school officials say that 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 the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

The government says Arias entered the U.S. illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s lawyer says he has a pending asylum claim that allows him to remain in the country.

Their detention led to a protest at the Texas family detention center and a visit by two Texas Democratic members of Congress.

In his order Saturday, Biery said: “apparent also is the government's ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence,” suggesting the Trump administration's actions echo those that then-author and future President Thomas Jefferson enumerated as grievances against England's King George.

Among them: “He has sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People” and “He has excited domestic Insurrection among us.”

Biery included in his ruling a photo of Liam and references to two lines in the Bible: “Jesus said, ’Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” and “Jesus wept.”

He's not the only federal judge who has been tough on ICE recently. A Minnesota-based judge with a conservative pedigree described the agency as a serial violator of court orders related to the crackdown.

Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy, has said there’s a target of 3,000 immigration arrests a day. It’s that figure which the judge seemed to refer to as a “quota.”

Spokespersons from the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The Law Firm of Jennifer Scarborough, which is representing the boy and his family, said in a statement that it was working “to ensure a safe and timely reunion.”

“We are pleased that the family will now be able to focus on being together and finding some peace after this traumatic ordeal,” they said.

During Wednesday's visit by Texas Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, the boy slept in the arms of his father, who said Liam was frequently tired and not eating well at the detention facility that houses about 1,100 people, according to Castro.

Detained families report poor conditions like worms in food, fighting for clean water and poor medical care at the detention center since its reopening last year. In December, a report filed by ICE acknowledged they held about 400 children longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.

Associated Press writer Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this article.

Protesters yell at a Texas state trooper outside the South Texas Family Residential Center detention facility where Liam Ramos and his father are being detained in Dilley, Texas, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A canister of pepper spray launched by Texas troopers flies towards protesters outside the South Texas Family Residential Center detention facility where Liam Ramos and his father are being detained in Dilley, Texas, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

An order to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from detention, which included a picture of the boy and Bible verse references under the signature of U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, is photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Sydney Schaefer)

An order to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from detention, which included a picture of the boy and Bible verse references under the signature of U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, is photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Sydney Schaefer)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has sent its response to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal via Pakistani mediators and wants negotiations to focus on permanently ending the war, Iran’s state-run media said Sunday. Pakistan confirmed receiving it.

Iran seeks to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel fights the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and to ensure the security of shipping, its state TV said. Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear program, an issue that Tehran would rather discuss later.

The White House had no immediate comment about Iran’s reply. President Donald Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC.

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, “issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.

Meanwhile, the fragile ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry called it a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region."

Iran and armed allied groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon have used drones to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28.

Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran does not accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. Iran has largely blocked the strategic waterway that's key to the global flow of oil, natural gas and fertilizer since the war began, rattling world markets.

The U.S. in turn has blockaded Iranian ports and on Friday struck two Iranian oil tankers it said were trying to breach the blockade. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy says any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial vessels would be met with a “heavy assault” on one of the U.S. bases in the region and enemy ships.

The American military said Sunday that it has turned back 61 commercial vessels and disabled four since the blockade began April 13.

Another sticking point in negotiations is Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The U.N. nuclear agency says Iran has more than 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.

In an interview with state media posted late Saturday, an Iranian military spokesperson said its forces were on “full readiness” to protect nuclear sites where uranium is stored.

“We considered it possible that they might intend to steal it through infiltration operations or heli-borne operations,” Brig. Gen. Akrami Nia told the IRNA news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an excerpt of an interview with CBS scheduled to air later Sunday said the war isn't over because the enriched uranium needs to be taken out of Iran. “Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there,’ and I think it can be done physically,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table.

The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely at its Isfahan nuclear complex, the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general told The Associated Press last month. The facility was bombarded by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in the 12-day war last year and faced less intense attacks this year.

Pakistan oversaw face-to-face talks between the U.S. and Iran last month and continues to pursue mediation. In rare public comments, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir said Islamabad remains committed to helping end the conflict. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke by phone with his Qatari counterpart.

The UAE's Defense Ministry said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran.

In Kuwait, Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said hostile drones entered Kuwait’s airspace and forces responded “in accordance with established procedures.” The ministry did not say where the drones came from.

Qatar's Defense Ministry said a drone targeted a commercial ship coming from Abu Dhabi, setting a small fire that was extinguished. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the attack happened 23 nautical miles (43 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Doha. It gave no details about the ship’s owner or origin, and there was no claim of responsibility.

Several attacks against ships in the Persian Gulf have occurred over the past week, and a U.S. effort to “guide” ships through the strait was soon paused.

South Korea announced initial findings from a investigation that said two unidentified airborne objects struck the South Korean-operated vessel HMM NAMU about one minute apart while it was anchored in the Strait of Hormuz last week, causing an explosion and fire. A foreign ministry spokesperson said officials have yet to determine who was responsible.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem; and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Container ships sit at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, May 2, 2026.(Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)