‘Nothing retaliatory’: US seeks deportation of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos

Lawyers for the Ecuadorian asylum seeker have speculated the Trump administration is seeking ‘retaliatory’ actions.Published On 6 Feb 2026The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has revealed it will continue to seek the deportation of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Conejo Arias, after their recent return to Minnesota.The department, however, denied it is seeking their expedited removal, as the family’s lawyer claimed.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US judge orders release of five-year-old and father from ICE detentionlist 2 of 3Five-year-old boy and father detained by ICE return home to Minnesotalist 3 of 3Music stars target ICE crackdown at Grammys ceremonyend of list“These are regular removal proceedings,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on Friday. “This is standard procedure, and there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”Conejo Ramos’s case has drawn nationwide attention since his initial detention on January 20.Photos went viral of Conejo Ramos standing in the snow, dressed in floppy blue bunny ears, with an immigration agent grabbing onto his Spiderman backpack.Officials in Minnesota’s Columbia Heights Public School District accused immigration officials of using the preschool student as “bait” for his father. DHS, meanwhile, has claimed that his father abandoned the child when approached by immigration authorities.Each side has denied the other’s account of the January 20 arrest.Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, is detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after arriving home from preschool on January 20, 2026 [Ali Daniels via AP Photo]Since December, the administration of President Donald Trump has led an immigration crackdown in Minnesota known as Operation Metro Surge. As many as 3,000 agents were deployed to the state at the operation’s height.But bystander videos and photos have raised questions about the heavy-handed tactics being used, particularly in the Minneapolis-St Paul metropolitan area.