Family of Columbia Heights (blue bunny hat) 5-year-old detained by ICE loses asylum case, ordered deported
An immigration judge has denied the asylum claims of a Columbia Heights family whose 5-year-old son became a national symbol of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, their attorney told MPR News on Wednesday.
Liam Conejo Ramos — the preschooler photographed in a blue bunny hat and Spiderman backpack as he was taken into custody — and his family are now appealing the ruling, according to their Minneapolis-based lawyer, Danielle Molliver. The appeal process could stretch for months or even years, MPR reports.
If the decision ultimately stands, the family could be deported to Ecuador, where they are from.
The family’s lawyer and law firm has not responded to the Star Tribune’s requests for comment.
The ruling marks a significant turn in a case that has drawn widespread attention across Minnesota and beyond since January, when federal agents detained Liam and his father outside their Columbia Heights home. The two were transported to a family detention center in Texas before a federal judge ordered their release.
The family — which includes Liam, his 13-year-old brother and their parents, Adrian Conejo Arias and Erika Ramos, who is pregnant — had been seeking asylum in the United States after entering the country in 2024.
https://www.startribune.com/liam-conejo-ramos-asylum-case-deportation-ice-operation-metro-surge-columbia-heights-5-year-old/601610917
My heart hurts learning of this.
My guess is that the top criminal ordered the judge to do this. Or we can call it blackmailed the judge.