Officials deny seeking quick end to asylum claims for the Minneapolis family of 5-year-old

Audio By Carbonatix

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims by the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown.

Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told The New York Times that the government was attempting to speed up the deportation proceedings, calling the actions “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory."

The government denied that.

“These are regular removal proceedings. They are not in expedited removal," Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, adding "there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”

Molliver told the Times that an immigration judge, during a closed Friday hearing, gave her additional time to argue the family's case.

The family is sequestered pending their next hearing this Friday, according to Kristen Stuenkel, spokesperson for Liam's district, the Columbia Heights Public Schools.

The boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, who originally is from Ecuador, were detained in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20. A judge ordered them released from a detention facility in Dilley, Texas, and they returned to Minnesota on Feb. 1.

Neighbors and school officials have accused federal immigration officers of using the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would come outside. DHS has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

The government said the boy’s father entered the U.S. illegally in December 2024. The family’s lawyer, however, said the father entered legally using the CBP One app and that his pending asylum claim allows him to stay in the U.S.