The family of Liam Conejo Ramos, the preschooler whose detention sparked protests in January, has been denied asylum in the US by a federal immigration judge.
Attorney Danielle Molliver told Minnesota Public Radio that the family is appealing the ruling to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The decision is the latest step in the Trump administration’s effort to deport the five-year-old child, whose photograph in a bunny hat in Minneapolis went viral after he and his father were detained by immigration officials in January.
The family “is very disappointed”, Molliver told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “They were hopeful, at the minimum, they would get their day in court and have an audience and present their testimony.”
The family, including Liam’s 13-year-old brother and their parents, Adrian Conejo Arias and Erika Ramos, who is pregnant, faces an uncertain future as the Trump administration moves to expedite the removal of the child and his father. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has previously denied the claim that they are looking to fast-track the removal.
“Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias and his son received full due process and were issued a final order of removal on February 19,” DHS acting assistant secretary, Lauren Bis, said in a statement on Thursday. “These are regular removal proceedings. This is standard procedure and there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”
With the appeal filed, Molliver’s office, Nwokocha & Operana, has until the end of April to submit any supporting documents and statements to the BIA. Molliver told the Minnesota Star Tribune that “every day is a struggle” for the family, as how much time is left in the US or whether the children will be allowed to finish the school year remains unclear.
“It all depends on how long the BIA takes,” Molliver told the news outlet. “They don’t want to go back to Ecuador.”
Molliver said she requested that the DHS consider “humanitarian factors and due process” in its enforcement of immigration law.
Nwokocha & Operana did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
“We understand that this decision will be appealed and remain hopeful for a positive outcome,” a spokesperson for Columbia Heights public school district told ABC News. “The detention in January of Liam and his father shed light on the harm caused by Operation Metro Surge, during which many children and families have been detained.”
The boy and his father were detained in Minneapolis during what became one of the Trump administration’s largest immigration crackdown campaigns. Both were arrested shortly after arriving home from the child’s preschool, and they were later taken to a federal detention facility in Dilley, Texas.
In January, an analysis by the Guardian found that ICE booked about 3,800 minors into immigrant family detention from January to October 2025, including children as young as one or two years old.
The sweeping operations in the Minneapolis-St Paul area and other Minnesota communities led to thousands of arrests, angry mass protests, and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
