An asylum claim for the family of the five-year-old boy whom the establishment media said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “arrested” in Minnesota has been denied.
The immigration judge denied the asylum claim for Liam Conejo Ramos’ family, CBS News reported Thursday, citing a statement from Columbia Heights Public School District where the child is a student.
The CBS article noted an attorney for his family, who are from Ecuador, planned to appeal.
“A few weeks ago, an immigration judge based in New York issued a decision to terminate their asylum application and order them removed from the United States. And since that decision was issued, we had to file an appeal to an office called the Board of Immigration Appeals, who submitted that appeal, and it is pending before the board. So while the case is pending before the board, the family can remain in the United States until that appeal is adjudicated,” immigration lawyer Paschal Nwokocha said.
The claim about the child being “arrested” went viral online after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) shared a news report wherein Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik suggested ICE took the child when he was being driven to school by his father, per Breitbart News.
However, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded by stating “ICE did NOT target a child. The child was ABANDONED,” then detailed the incident:
On January 20, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias an illegal alien from Ecuador who was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration. As agents approached the driver Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot — abandoning his child. For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.
Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement. Parents can take control of their departure and receive a free flight and $2,600 with the CBP Home app. By using the CBP Home app illegal aliens reserve the chance to come back the right legal way.
In his comments about the incident, Vice President JD Vance said he looked into the matter and found “that the five-year-old was not arrested, that his dad was an illegal alien, and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran. So the story is that ICE detained a five-year-old, well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death?”
Fox News’s Bill Melugin also reported that DHS said the boy’s father fled from ICE agents and left his child behind with those agents.
“This has sparked claims from Democrats that Liam was ‘kidnapped’ and ‘targeted’ by ICE to be ‘used as bait,’” he wrote:
Indeed, the CBS article’s lede said the judge denied the asylum claim for the family of “a 5-year-old Minnesota boy whose arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in January gained national attention.” [Emphasis added.]
