US Judge Frees Five-Year-Old, Father from Immigration Detention

(MENAFN) A US judge has ordered the release of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, from an immigration detention center in Texas, criticizing the detention as fueled by a “perfidious lust for unbridled power.”

The child, photographed wearing a blue bunny-shaped hat and a Spider-Man backpack, was taken into custody on his Minneapolis driveway, prompting widespread national outrage.

Authorities said the operation targeted the father, described as an “illegal alien,” and that the child was not specifically targeted.

On Saturday, US District Judge Fred Biery granted an emergency request from the family’s attorney, instructing officials to release both father and son by February 3. The judge included the image of Ramos in his ruling.

“The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatising children,” Biery wrote.

Biery, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, emphasized that deportations should be carried out through a more orderly and humane process. “Observing human behaviour 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,” he added, referencing the child’s detention.

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