(NewsNation) — Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, arrived home in Minneapolis on Sunday after being released from ICE custody.
Rep. Joaquin Castro announced on X that he had picked the pair up Saturday night from the immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, and had escorted them back to Minneapolis Sunday morning.
“Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack,” Castro wrote with accompanying photos. “Thank you to everyone who demanded freedom for Liam. We won’t stop until all children and families are home.”
Their arrival back in Minneapolis comes one day after U.S. District Judge Fred Biery issued an order that they be released as soon as possible, but no later than Tuesday, Feb. 3. Both Liam and his father were taken into custody by ICE on Jan. 20 after arriving home from preschool. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NewsNation that Conejo Arias fled and “abandoned” Liam when approached by federal agents.
Officials from Liam’s school, however, said the opposite happened and that another adult who was inside the home asked agents if they could bring Liam inside, but was allegedly refused that opportunity.
Castro wrote a letter to Liam while they were on the plane to Minnesota, in which he told the young boy he has “moved the world.”
“Your family, school and many strangers said prayers for you and offered whatever they could do to see you back home,” Castro wrote. “Don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t your home. America became the most powerful, prosperous nation on earth because of immigrants not in spite of them.”
