US federal judge blocks ICE deportation of five-year-old boy and his father | US immigration

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a five-year-old Minnesota boy and his father cannot be immediately deported, a week after their arrest sparked international outrage.

A Texas-based judge has issued an order stating that preschooler Liam Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, cannot be removed from the judicial district where they are being held or transferred to another location while a lawsuit challenging their detention is pending.

Liam’s arrest seven days ago went viral and became a symbol of the Trump administration’s brutal crackdown on immigrant communities in the Minneapolis area. The family’s attorneys said the father and son had an active asylum case and entered the United States through an authorized entry point.

Officials at Liam’s school district spoke out about his arrest last week, saying the boy and his father were detained on their way home from school. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the arrest, arguing that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was conducting a “targeted operation” to detain the child’s father.