Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy detained in Minneapolis and sent to a detention center near San Antonio was released Saturday along with his father, according to U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro.
The father and son are now back home in the Twin Cities, tweeted Castro, a San Antonio Democrat who pushed for their release.
The pair’s return comes after a federal judge issued a scathing ruling on Saturday demanding their release. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained the two last month, even though their attorneys maintain they’re in the U.S. legally as part of an asylum claim.
Five-year-old Liam’s arrest sparked national outcry and protests outside the detention center where they were being held in Dilley, an hour southwest of the Alamo City.
“They should have never been there in the first place,” Castro said in his tweet. “Thanks to your voices, they are now free.”
Although Liam and his father are no longer in federal custody, at least 400 children remain in detention at the Dilley center, Castro previously told reporters.
Worse, immigration attorney Eric Lee, who represents detainees at the South Texas Family Detention Center, told the Current over the weekend that the site is now experiencing a measles outbreak.
Lee’s comments to the Current are backed up by a sworn statement by Castro’s chief of staff, Ben Thomas, who declared under oath that ICE informed the congressman and his team of a measles outbreak during their Jan. 31 visit to the facility.
ICE began moving children and their parents from the Dilley detention center to the Holding Institute Community Center in Laredo in recent weeks, the Express-News reports. It’s unclear at this time whether the relocation is due to the measles outbreak.
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