DETROIT — A federal judge has ordered the release of Adrian Conejo Arias and his 5-year-old son, Liam Conejo Ramos, whom immigration officers detained during a Minnesota raid.
The boy, seen in a now viral photo that showed him wearing a blue bunny hat outside his house as federal agents stood nearby, was one of four students detained by immigration officials earlier this month in a Minneapolis suburb, according to the Columbia Heights Public School District.
"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," U.S. District Judge Fred Biery wrote in a ruling published on Saturday.
"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."
The Ecuadorean boy and his father, who entered the United States legally as asylum applicants, were sent to a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, their attorney Marc Prokosch previously told Reuters.
Prokosch and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return requests for comment.
Armed and masked officers detained two 17-year-olds and a 10-year-old in addition to Liam, School District Superintendent Zena Stenvik said last week.
