US federal judge blocks deportation of five-year-old boy and his father
Source: The Guardian
Tue 27 Jan 2026 17.05 EST
Last modified on Tue 27 Jan 2026 17.10 EST
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that a five-year-old Minnesota boy and his father cannot be immediately deported, one week after their arrest sparked international outrage. A Texas-based judge issued an order saying Liam Ramos, the preschooler, and his father, Adrian Cornejo Arias, cannot be removed or transferred out of the judicial district where they are being held while the litigation challenging their detention proceeds.
Liam’s arrest seven days prior went viral and became a symbol of the Trump administration’s relentless crackdown on immigrant communities in the Minneapolis region. Attorneys for the family have said the father and son have an active asylum case and had entered the US at an authorized port of entry.
Officials at Liam’s school district spoke out about his arrest last week, saying the boy and his father were detained as they returned home from school. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the arrest, arguing that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was conducting a “targeted operation” to detain the boy’s father.
The father and son were quickly transferred out of Minnesota last week and taken to the Dilley immigration processing center in Texas, a facility that holds families with children and has been the subject of protests and complaints about conditions. Fred Biery, a judge for the western district of Texas, wrote in his order that “any possible or anticipated removal or transfer of” the father and his child is “IMMEDIATELY STAYED until further order from this Court”. The government “SHALL NOT TRANSFER” them out of the district “during the pendency of this litigation and until further Order of this Court”, the ruling said.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/27/liam-ramos-child-father-deportation-blocked
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