A Texas congressman has shared an update on the condition of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, the child whose detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside his school elicited international concern.
Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas visited Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas one week after an image of the boy went viral around the world.
Highlights
- Liam Conejo is reportedly lethargic, not eating well, and asking repeatedly for the hat and backpack taken from him.
- Rep. Joaquin Castro said the child has been “depressed” since being separated from his classmates and held in detention.
- The Trump administration said ICE officials were left with no other choice and pointed to the father’s status as an undocumented immigrant.
The photo showed Liam wearing a bright blue bunny hat and a Spider-Man backpack as he was detained by federal agents.
On Thursday (January 29), Castro released a new image from the visit. In it, Liam appeared exhausted, asleep in his father’s arms inside the detention facility.
A Texas congressman shared a concerning update about Liam Conejo, a 5-year-old who was detained by ICE alongside his father
Image credits: Joel Angel Juarez/Getty Images
“Liam said that he misses his classmates and his family and wants to be back at school,” Castro wrote.
“He keeps asking about that hat and that backpack that are in the picture. I think they took that from him.”
Image credits: cnnnews18
Liam and his father were detained by ICE agents on February 20 after the boy returned home from preschool. Video obtained by news outlets shows the child being taken from the driveway shortly after arriving home, still wearing his backpack.
As agents escorted him away, bystanders could be heard screaming and honking their horns in protest, while one agent held Liam’s Spider-Man backpack.
Image credits: Close the Camps
The pair were transported more than 1,300 miles south to the Dilley detention center in Texas, where they have remained in custody ever since.
This marked the fourth time a student in the Twin Cities school district was detained by federal officers during Department of Homeland Security operations in Minnesota, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Concerns over Liam’s physical and emotional health have intensified since his arrival at the facility
NBC News anchor Geoff Bennett reported that Liam’s father said his son has been “depressed” since being detained due to being separated from his friends and classmates.
“Representative Castro said he was concerned that Liam appeared lethargic and that he hadn’t been eating well,” Bennett said.
“Reports indicate that food served to families at Dilley, including young children, has contained mold and worms.”
Image credits: Joel Angel Juarez/Getty Images
Protesters have since gathered outside the detention center in Dilley, demanding the release of Liam and his father. Demonstrations escalated Wednesday (January 28), when protesters and journalists were met with chemical irritants, forcing them to flee the area.
Image credits: Nate Payne
The incidents come following the temporary blockage by a federal judge of Liam and his father’s removal from the country.
US District Judge Fred Biery ruled that Department of Homeland Security officials cannot transfer the pair “outside of this judicial district during the pendency of this litigation and until further Order of this Court.”
The detention has triggered bipartisan outrage among lawmakers and families nationwide
Image credits: Joel Angel Juarez/Getty Images
“This is a time where we should all be outraged,” Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota said in a video posted to X.
“If this doesn’t pierce through your humanity, as a Republican member of Congress, if you can’t speak out about this, then you’ve got no humanity left.”
School officials and federal authorities have offered conflicting accounts of how and why the arrest unfolded, particularly amid reports that the arrest occurred in snow-covered Columbia Heights.
Trump administration officials, on the other hand, have strongly defended the detention. For instance, Vice President JD Vance insisted ICE agents were left with no alternative, and pointed to the father’s status as an undocumented immigrant.
Image credits: cnnnews18
“What are they supposed to do?” Vance asked reporters. “Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to d**th?”
“Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?” he added.
Image credits: WOAIVideo
Vance also questioned the narrative that said the child was arrested, insisting that he was taken because his father attempted to flee.
“The five-year-old was not arrested,” Vance said. “His dad was an illegal alien and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran.”
Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino also defended ICE’s conduct, asserting agents were trained to handle situations involving children.
“I will say unequivocally that we are experts in dealing with children,” Bovino said during a press conference.
“Let me say that again, experts in dealing with children, not because we want to be, but because we have to be.”
According to an analysis of ICE and Deportation Data Project records, the agency booked roughly 3,800 minors into immigrant family detention from January through October 2025, and more than 500 of those were under the age of five.
"Breaks my heart." Netizens commented on the impact the images had on them
