The parents of a five-year-old boy who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) say he now repeatedly fears it could happen again.
In January, Liam Conejo Ramos was walking home from preschool with his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, when ICE agents detained them.
They were held for almost two weeks at a detention center in Texas. After a federal judge ordered their release, they returned to their home in Minneapolis.
According to the family, the experience has continued to affect Liam’s day-to-day life. They say he often worries about being taken again, and when asked what scares him most, he answered ‘la inmigracòn’, the Spanish term he uses to refer to federal immigration agents.
Speaking to CBS News, Liam’s mother Erika Ramos said: “My boy is very different.”
She added: “He sees police officers, and he says, ‘It’s ICE, Mommy.”
Liam’s father said he’s concerned the trauma may not fade quickly. “As parents, it worries us a lot that he’s no longer as he was before and we’re worried this could last a long time.”
Requests for comment have been sent to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.
Video showing Liam being taken by ICE — while wearing a Spiderman backpack and a blue hat — circulated widely online and sparked anger from viewers around the world.
The Department of Homeland Security said the incident occurred during what it described as a ‘targeted operation’ on January 20 aimed at arresting Liam’s father. The agency claimed he fled and left the child behind, adding that an ICE officer stayed with Liam ‘for the child’s safety’ while the arrest took place.
Liam’s father has challenged that account, telling CBS News he ‘never did and never would’ abandon his son.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas previously told PBS News: “Liam is not doing well. He has been sleeping a lot. He hasn’t been eating well, and he’s been very depressed. He misses his mom, he misses his classmates, and he wants to go home.”
Castro also alleged that conditions at the Dilley detention center in Texas were substandard, citing accounts from detainees who said they found ‘worms occasionally in their food’.
The detentions took place amid an extended ICE operation in Minnesota, where communities across the state organized efforts opposing ICE activity.
After the operation, ICE shot and killed two Minnesotans — mom-of-three Renee Nicole Good and ICU nurse Alex Pretti — both 37.