Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that the 5-year-old boy and his father, who were detained by ICE in Minneapolis last month, did not apply for asylum, as officials announced that the family was released over the weekend.
Blanche said there have been conflicting claims regarding the legal status of the boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who entered the U.S. in 2024, according to public reporting, though officials and the family’s lawyers dispute the circumstances of their entry and asylum processing. Lawyers representing the Ecuadorian family say they have an active asylum claim currently being processed, allowing them to remain in the country pending a court decision.
The deputy attorney general denied that they have a pending asylum case, echoing previous claims by the Department of Homeland Security, which described the family as being in the country illegally.
“That is not true. There’s a very meaningful dispute about whether they had properly applied for asylum,” Blanche said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I cannot get into the … specifics of this litigation, but you can read the same briefs I can. And what you just said is not true.”
While some immigrants detained by federal agents do not have prior criminal records, Blanche added that the Trump administration considers unauthorized entry into the U.S. a crime and believes such individuals should be detained.
“The fact that they’re here illegally is a crime,” he said. “And so when you say they don’t have criminal records, they are – by their presence being here without status, having come into this country illegally or overstayed illegally, that is a crime.”
“There is a schism in the law right now about whether an illegal alien can be held pending their proceeding or whether they need to be released on bail,” he added. “We very strongly believe that they should be held and there’s a bunch of appellate cases.”
Blanche’s comments come after several days of widespread backlash from attorneys and lawmakers who condemned the operation that detained the five‑year‑old when his father picked him up from school on Jan. 20.
The boy and his father were released from a detention center in Dilley, Texas, on Saturday, after a judge issued a ruling earlier in the day.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, posted on social media Sunday that he picked up the family Saturday night and escorted them back to Minnesota the next morning.
In a letter he also shared, the congressman wrote to the boy: “Don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t your home. America became the most powerful, prosperous nation on earth because of immigrants not in spite of them.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., celebrated their release on social media with a photo of her standing next to the family and Castro, writing, “Liam is home now and we are grateful to Joaquin Castro for traveling to Minneapolis with him and his dad. Welcome home Liam.”
