WASHINGTON: A five-year-old boy whose detention in the Trump administration&#39;s aggressive immigration raids in Minneapolis shocked the world is now back home, a lawmaker said Sunday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, who are asylum seekers from Ecuador, on January 20 as the boy arrived home from preschool. Images of the boy with a blue bunny hat and backpack being held by officers whizzed around the world and added fire to public outrage at the federal immigration crackdown, during which agents have shot dead two US citizens. The father and son spent 10 days in a detention center in Texas, hundreds of miles from home, until a judge ordered them freed on Saturday. &quot;Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack,&quot; Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro, who accompanied them on the trip from his home state, wrote on X in a post with photos of the child. The Trump administration sought to justify the boy&#39;s detention by arguing that ICE took him into custody after his father tried to flee from immigration agents. During a visit to the detention center last week, Castro said Adrian Conejo Arias described his son as being sad and depressed. &quot;His dad said that he hasn&#39;t been himself,&quot; Castro wrote on X then. US District Judge Fred Biery, who ordered the boy&#39;s release, said in a scathing opinion &quot;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.&quot; He criticized what he called the government&#39;s apparent &quot;ignorance&quot; of the US Declaration of Independence that &quot;enumerated grievances against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation.&quot; Biery also cited the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects the right against &quot;unreasonable searches and seizures.&quot; After this ruling came out, Castro went to pick up the boy and his father and flew home with them to Minnesota. &quot;We won&#39;t stop until all children and families are home,&quot; Castro wrote.

Americas

US district judge orders boy's release, says in a scathing opinion "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."

Five-year-old arrested in ICE raids is back home: lawmaker

NEW YORK:&nbsp;The US Department of Justice has dismissed eight immigration judges in New York City, the association representing them said Tuesday, amid tensions with the courts as President Donald Trump&rsquo;s administration cracks down on undocumented migrants. According to the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), which confirmed media reports, the eight judges all worked at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.&nbsp; The address houses a court that reviews cases in which migrants seek to regularize their status.<figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/7fc194e0-9ab7-46d7-94d3-17d73d7f6682-NYC ICE.jpg" alt="NYC ICE.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 1000px; height: 563px;"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">NEW YORK: Immigration activists block ICE vans during a protest against a purported ICE raid on Canal Street on November 29, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by AFP/File)</figcaption></figure> For months, masked federal officers have been patrolling the hallways of the Jacob K Javitz Federal Building daily.&nbsp; The officers make arrests of migrants as they leave hearings, but under the watchful eye of the press, which is frequently present. Crackdown on migrantsImages of scuffles with police and of immigrant families being separated have gone viral around the world, making 26 Federal Plaza a symbolic site of the Trump administration&rsquo;s crackdown on migrants nationwide. It&#39;s unclear what led to the dismissals of eight New York judges.&nbsp; However, they join approximately 90 judges who were dismissed across the country this year out of about 600, according to a report by The New York Times. More aligned judges&nbsp;As migrant advocacy groups see them, these dismissals are aimed at replacing the outgoing judges with others who are more aligned with the administration&#39;s immigration policy. The dismissals took place after several dozen people gathered in Manhattan over the weekend to try to prevent a possible raid by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency against street vendors.&nbsp; The New York police made several arrests. As a so-called sanctuary city for migrants, New York City voluntarily limits cooperation between its local authorities and federal immigration services.&nbsp; However, it does not prevent their operations.

It's unclear what led to the eight New York judges being dismissed; however, they join approximately 90 judges who were dismissed over the year across the country out of about 600, according to a report by The New York Times.

Articles tagged with "ICE Raids"

Five-year-old arrested in ICE raids is back home: lawmaker

Trump administration dismisses eight immigration judges in New York

Five-year-old arrested in ICE raids is back home: lawmaker