Todd Blanche disputes asylum claim for 5-year-old, dad detained by ICE
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A 5-year-old boy and his father detained by ICE in Minneapolis last month did not apply for asylum after authorities announced the family’s release over the weekend, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday.
Blanche said that according to public reports, there are conflicting claims regarding the legal status of the boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who entered the United States in 2024, but officials and the family’s lawyers are in dispute about the conditions surrounding the entry and asylum process. Lawyers representing the Ecuadorian family say an active asylum request is currently in process, allowing them to remain in the country pending a court decision.
The deputy attorney general denied that there was a pending asylum case, repeating previous claims by the Department of Homeland Security that the family was in the country illegally.
Participating in ABC’s “This Week” program, Blanche said: “This is not true. There is a very meaningful debate about whether they applied for asylum or not.”
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERED TRUMP ADMIN TO RELEASE THE FATHER OF A 5-YEAR-OLD FROM IMMIGRATION SENTENCE WITHIN 3 DAYS
“I can’t go into the details of this case, but you can read the summaries that I can. And what you just said is not true.”
Although some immigrants detained by federal agents have no prior criminal records, Blanche added that the Trump administration considers unauthorized entry into the United States a crime and believes such people should be detained.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche arrives for a press conference in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2025 (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“It is a crime for them to be here illegally,” he said. “And when you say they don’t have a criminal record, that’s a crime because they’re here without status, they came to this country illegally or they overstayed illegally.”
“There is currently a divide in the law as to whether an illegal alien can be held pending trial or whether he must be released on bail,” he added. “We feel very strongly that these things need to be done, and there are a lot of appeals.”
MEDIA ACTIVATES AN AVALANCHE WITH ICE, A ‘TERRIBLE LIE’ TARGETED A 5-YEAR-OLD CHILD IN MINNESOTA, DHS SAYS THE CHILD WAS ABANDONED
Liam Conejo Ramos sits with his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, after his release from a detention facility in Texas. (Joaquin Castro)
Blanche’s comments followed several days of widespread outcry from lawyers and MPs who condemned the operation in which the five-year-old was detained while his father picked him up from school on January 20.
The boy and his father were released from a detention center in Dilley, Texas, on Saturday following a judge’s ruling earlier in the day.
Liam Conejo Ramos and his father pass through airport security after being released from federal custody on February 1, 2026. (Joaquin Castro)
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, posted on social media Sunday that he picked up the family Saturday night and accompanied them to Minnesota the next morning.
In a letter he shared, the congressman wrote to the child: “Don’t let anyone tell you that this is not your home. America has become the strongest, most prosperous nation in the world, not despite immigrants, but because of them.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) poses with Liam Conejo Ramos, his father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) after the family’s release from a detention center in Texas. (Representative İlhan Ömer)
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., celebrated their release on social media with a photo of herself standing next to her family and Castro, writing: “Liam is home now and we are grateful to Joaquin Castro for traveling to Minneapolis with him and his father. Welcome home, Liam.”
