Boy, 5, and father detained by ICE return to Minnesota after release

Columbia Heights Public SchoolsA five-year-old boy and his father who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota have returned home, a congressman has said.Texas Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, announced on Sunday that Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias were released from Dilley detention center in Texas and had travelled back to the city. Castro said: "Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack."The detainment of the pair sparked protests outside the detention facility where they were being held, and led to a national outcry. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said: "ICE did NOT target or arrest a child."Their return home came after US District Judge Fred Biery granted an emergency request from the family's lawyer, and ordered their release on Saturday. The judge condemned their detention as driven by a "perfidious lust for unbridled power"."The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatising children," Biery wrote in his ruling.Biery, an appointee of former US President Bill Clinton, said deportations through the US immigration system should occur in a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place.While the father and son were still in the Texas detention centre, Rep. Castro had written on social media that the young boy was not doing well being away from his family, classmates and home. The Department of Homeland Security has said the pair entered the US illegally, while a lawyer for the family said they followed proper protocols to seek asylum.On Sunday, the DHS said in a statement to the BBC's US partner CBS News: "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".Judge orders release of five-year-old detained by ICE in MinneapolisICE detains five-year-old and father in Minnesota, lawyer saysUS immigrationUnited States