A federal judge has blocked the possible deportation of a 5-year-old and his father for now

By Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN) — A Minnesota preschooler detained in Texas with his father cannot be imminently deported, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, was taken away from his family’s suburban Minneapolis driveway last week after federal agents apprehended his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias.

The detention of the child — and a widely-circulated photo of an agent holding a fearful Liam in place by his Spider-Man backpack — has added to the fury of those who are resisting the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown in Minnesota, where federal agents have swept up several children and teens.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed Liam’s father is an “illegal alien” from Ecuador and said agents took the boy with them after the father said he wanted Liam to stay with him.

But an attorney for Liam’s family said Conejo committed no crimes and followed “all the established protocols” for legally seeking asylum in the US, including “showing up for their court hearings.”

Liam and his dad were flown across the country to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas — an ICE detention facility for families.

The father has filed a lawsuit against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, US Attorney General Pam Bondi and other federal officials.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled “that any possible or anticipated removal or transfer of Petitioners Adrian Conejo Arias and L.C.R., a minor child, is IMMEDIATELY STAYED until further order from this Court,” a court document states.

In addition, federal officials “SHALL NOT TRANSFER Petitioners Adrian Conejo Arias and L.C.R., a minor child, outside of this judicial district during the pendency of this litigation and until further Order of this Court,” the ruling says.

CNN has reached out to an attorney for the family for comment.

Liam and his father were apprehended outside their home in Columbia Heights as they returned from the boy’s preschool. School officials have accused agents of trying to use the child to lure his mother into detention. DHS officials have refuted this, saying they had no choice but to take him.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin reiterated the agency’s account in a statement Tuesday, saying the father fled on foot as agents approached, “abandoning his child.”

While agents apprehended Conejo Arias, one ICE officer remained with Liam “for the child’s safety,” she added.

“Our officers made multiple attempts to get the alleged mother who was inside the house to take custody of her child. Officers even assured her she would NOT be taken” into custody, McLaughlin said. “The alleged mother refused to accept custody of the child.”

The father told officers he wanted Liam to be kept with him, according to DHS.

Family friends and school administrators have said neighbors and Conejo Arias urged Liam’s mother not to open the door, fearing she would also be detained.

The mother, who is pregnant and also has a teenage son, was “terrified” of the agents, said Pastor Sergio Amezcua, who has been helping the mother since her husband and son were detained.

“ICE agents were trying to use the baby to get her to come out of her house, but the neighbors … advised her not to do it,” Amezcua said.

Zena Stenvik, superintendent of the school district in Columbia Heights, said agents led Liam to the door of his home “and directed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, in order to see if anyone else was home — essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” Stenvik said.

ICE has said it “did not, and has never, ‘used a child as bait.’”

“There was another adult who lived in the home that was there saying, ‘I will take the child. I will take the child,’” according to Mary Granlund, the school board chair at Columbia Heights Public Schools, who was driving by and witnessed the detention.

Liam’s mother looked out the window, Granlund said, but Liam’s father was yelling, “Please do not open the door! Don’t open the door!,” Granlund said.

After Liam was taken, DHS has said agents took him for a meal at McDonalds “and played him his favorite music to comfort him.”

Liam was a “PreK 4” student at Valley View Elementary in Minnesota before he was taken to Texas.

In the past month, at least three other children from Liam’s school district have also been taken away by ICE agents, Columbia Heights Public Schools said.

Another case, in which a 2-year-old girl was detained, bears striking similarities to Liam’s case. That toddler was taken into ICE custody with her father in Minneapolis last week and flown to Texas despite a court order requiring her immediate release, a family lawyer has said. Within a day, she was returned home to her mother, though her father, Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, remained in custody.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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