The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday released an image of the father of a preschooler who authorities said was abandoned by his father as he fled from federal law enforcement.
Fox News obtained the image of Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who is the father of 5-year-old Liam Ramos.
Conejo Arias is an Ecuadorean citizen who was in the United States illegally and was released into the country by the Biden administration.
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DHS has no record of him or his family entering the U.S. via the Biden-era CBP One cell phone app as the family attorney had claimed. Fox was told by the agency that Conejo Arias a process known as VR, voluntary return, to leave the U.S. with no immigration consequences, but he declined.
Democrats have claimed that Ramos was “kidnapped” as his father was being detained in Minneapolis. Columbia Heights school district superintendent Zena Stenvik said Ramos was “used as bait.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as well as other Democrats, shared an image of a 5-year-old boy online and claimed he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while coming home from pre-school,
DHS officials said officers were approaching Conejo Arias when he ran and left his son.
“This little boy was abandoned by his own father. His own father was being approached by ICE agents when he darted, ran, and abandoned the child,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Our law enforcement in these frigid temperatures stayed with the child, tried to bring him into custody with the mother, who actually would not take the child into custody, which is so sad, so horrific.”
On Friday, ICE officials said authorities were targeting the father, not the child.
“My officers stayed with the child. They cared for him. Took him to get something to eat from a drive-thru restaurant and spent hours ensuring he was taken care of,” ICE Executive Assistant Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Marcos Charles told reporters. “Again, my officers did that, not his father … his family refused to open the door and take him back.”
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“My officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family,” he added. “Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, the people inside refused to take him in and open the door. Let me say it again. They saw the young boy, and they refused to open the door and take him back.”
McLaughlin said officers tried to get Liam’s mother to take him, but she refused to accept custody. The boy and his father are being detained together at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, which holds families.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas., on Friday said she plans to visit the detention center next week to “conduct oversight and will demand answers on the whereabouts and wellbeing of Liam.”
“If it were up to me, we’d be at the Dilley Detention Center RIGHT NOW getting answers,” she wrote on X. “But let’s be clear about what’s really happening here: the Trump Administration is illegally blocking Members of Congress from conducting lawful oversight.
Crockett added that she was outraged, saying her heart “aches for Liam’s family” while promising to get answers.
McLaughlin said Conejo Arias asked to keep Ramos with him after the child’s mother refused to take him. Before that, Ramos was given food from McDonald’s and listened to music, she said.
“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,” McLaughlin said. “This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement.”
