Liam Ramos stands with an immigration agent
Courtesy of Columbia Heights Public Schools
The Department of Homeland Security has filed a motion to expedite deportation proceedings and end asylum claims for a 5-year-old boy and his father after the pair were detained in Minnesota and held at a Texas family detention center, according to their attorney.
Immigration lawyer Danielle Molliver, who is part of the family's legal team, told MPR News that DHS filed the motion Wednesday seeking to fast-track removal proceedings for Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias. The child and his father were detained on January 20 and later transferred to a facility in Dilley, Texas. A hearing is scheduled for Friday, though Molliver said she is requesting more time to respond.
Molliver described the motion to MPR News as "retaliatory" and said expedited handling is uncommon. "It's really frustrating as an attorney, because they keep throwing new obstacles in our way. There's absolutely no reason that this should be expedited. It's not very common," she said.
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She added that the family may not ultimately be deported to Ecuador and could instead seek asylum in a third country. The father said in an interview translated by MPR News that he is uncertain what will happen next:
"The government is moving many pieces, it's doing everything possible to do us harm, so that they'll probably deport us. We live with that fear too"
The pair returned to Minneapolis after a federal judge ordered their release pending their asylum case earlier this week. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, who granted the emergency request criticized the detention in a written ruling, calling it driven by a "perfidious lust for unbridled power" and tied to what he described as deportation quota policies that risk "traumatising children."
DHS has said officers did not target the child and denied allegations that agents used him as "bait" during the arrest operation. The agency has stated that the father fled and that officers ensured the child's safety, adding that the administration will continue to pursue the "arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country."
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Tags: Immigration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, Minnesota, Texas