Five-year-old boy and father detained by ICE return home to Minnesota

"A five-year-old boy and his father, who were detained as part of United States President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration raids and held at a detention facility in Texas, have returned to their home in Minnesota. Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian, who are asylum seekers from Ecuador, spent 10 days in the Dilley detention centre until US District Judge Fred Biery ordered their release on Saturday."

"US Representative Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, wrote in a social media post that he picked them up on Saturday night at the detention facility and escorted them home on Sunday. Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack, Castro wrote, including photos of the child. We won't stop until all children and families are home. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Liam and his father on January 20 as the boy arrived home from preschool."

"In a statement, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said ICE did not target or arrest Liam, and that his mother refused to take him after his father's apprehension. His father told officers he wanted Liam to be with him, she said. The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country,"

Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old asylum seeker from Ecuador, and his father Adrian were detained by ICE during immigration raids and held at the Dilley detention centre in Texas. A US District Judge ordered their release after ten days. Texas Representative Joaquin Castro collected them at the facility and escorted them back to their home in Minnesota. ICE agents arrested the pair on January 20 as the boy arrived from preschool, and images of the child in a blue bunny hat provoked widespread public outrage. DHS said ICE did not target the child and reported the mother refused to take him; the father wanted him to stay with him.

Read at www.aljazeera.com