An immigration judge has ended the asylum claim of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, Minnesota Public Radio reports.
The boy was thrust into the national spotlight as federal agents detained him during ICE’s controversial crackdown in Minneapolis. A widely shared photo showed the PreK 4 student in a bunny hat as ICE personnel took him into custody. He was later shipped to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, roughly an hour from San Antonio.
People nationwide celebrated the child’s release thanks to the efforts of U.S. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat representing the Alamo City.
However, it looks like the trouble isn’t over for Liam and his family, according to their attorney.
Attorney Danielle Molliver, with Nwokocha & Operana Law Offices, told MPR News on Wednesday that an immigration judge rejected the family’s asylum claims. However, Molliver said the firm is appealing the decision handed down by U.S. Immigration Judge John Burns. That process could take months or even years, she added.
If the family loses the appeal, they are likely to be deported to Ecuador, their country of origin.
“They never even got the chance to make their case before a judge,” Congressman Joaquin Castro said in a statement. “It is wrong, cruel and cannot stand.”
In addition to Liam, the family includes his 13-year-old brother and his parents, Adrian Conejo Arias and Erika Ramos, the latter of whom is pregnant with the couple’s third child.
Liam and his father were arrested Jan. 20 in Columbia Heights, a suburb of Minneapolis. After a national outcry, the pair were released from the Dilley prison camp on Feb. 1.
However, in early February, the federal government filed a motion to end the asylum claims of the Conejo Ramos family.
“The government was bent on removing this family from the United States,” attorney Paschal Nwokocha told MPR News in February.
Rep. Castro said that he’s in touch with the family and the firm representing them.
“We will keep fighting,” he added.
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