Judge Orders Administration to Release 5-Year-Old, Father

Condemning what he called the Trump administration's "imposition of cruelty," a federal judge on Saturday ordered that a 5-year-old Minnesota boy and his father be released from immigration detention. US District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas ruled their seizure unconstitutional and directed that Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, be freed from custody by Tuesday, the New York Times reports. Biery wrote that the detention is rooted in "the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children," per the AP.

Widespread outrage had met the ICE arrest of the father and son, who were later transferred to a detention center near San Antonio, earlier this month in a Minneapolis suburb. The moment was captured in a photo of Liam wearing a Spider-Man backpack and a large blue winter hat. Protests were held at the detention center, and two Democratic members of Congress who visited were told by his father that Liam was sleeping a lot, not eating well, and wanted to go back to school.

In a scathing three-page order, Biery, who was appointed by Bill Clinton, said the federal government's ignorance of the Declaration of Independence is "apparent," per CBS News. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the ruling. At the bottom of his decision, after denouncing a "perfidious lust for unbridled power," Biery appended the photo of Liam along with two Bible verses. The order was issued, he wrote, "with a judicial finger in the constitutional dike."