Erika Ramos witnessed firsthand how Immigration Control Service (ICE) agents took her son, barely five years old, at the door of her house “without being able to do anything” paralyzed by helplessness.
On January 20, Liam Conejo starred in one of the most striking images that the Trump administration measures to control immigration. The scene remained etched in the memories of many: a child detained before even crossing the threshold of his home.
At the door of his home, which he never entered, Liam was detained and separated from his safe environment with his fatherAdrián Alexander Conejo Arias. Both were transferred to the Detention Center in the town of Dilley.
“Adrián asked me over and over again not to go out, because he was afraid that they would arrest me too,” Liam’s mother declared to Telemundo.
Neighbors and school officials claim that federal agents used the boy ‘as bait’ by telling him to knock on the door of his house to get his mother to open the door.
Erika Ramos remembers that day with a lump in her throat during her call with the television: “They took Liam out of our car, they took him to my front door so I could open it.”
ICE agents accompany Liam Conejo to the door of his house
“Everything seemed like an attempt to provoke me, as if they wanted me to come out desperate for my son so they could stop me too, they used my child as bait,” Ramos added.
When asked if she had maintained communication with her husband after the arrest, Liam’s mother conveyed her husband’s concern for the child’s health, ““My chubby boy is sick, he has a fever, stomach pain, and there is no medicine here.”
Statements from Ecuador
The commotion of the situation caused the Conejos’ relatives in Ecuador to immediately receive the news of the little boy’s arrest.
Luis Conejo, Liam’s paternal uncle, highlights the helplessness they faced because they could not do anything from a distance.
“Son very strong images that reach the heart and this cannot happen again,” Luis declares when viewing the images of his nephew’s arrest again.
The journey of the Rabbits
The Rabbit family, originally from Ecuadorarrived in the United States in December 2024, after a long trip that ended in Texas.
Adrián Conejo embarked on a new path, on July 24 of the same year, in search of ‘the American dream’ with his wife Erika Ramos and their two children, Liam, five years old, and his 12-year-old brother, convinced that the sacrifice would be worth it.
The trip, which It lasted for several monthsbegan with a flight from Quito to Guatemala. From there, the family continued their journey by land, advancing on foot and by different means of transportation through Central America and Mexico, until finally reaching the border between Mexico and the United States.
In December, thanks to the CBP One app created during the Biden administration, they managed to obtain a temporary stay permit.
This permit allowed them to legally enter the country while their application for international protection was pending, offering them hope of safety and the chance to rebuild their lives.
Liam’s release
The photograph that circulated social networks and media shows Liam wearing a blue hat with rabbit ears and a Spider-Man backpack hanging from his shoulders. That image made him a symbol of ICE’s actions under the Trump administration.
Liam Conejo, the 5-year-old boy detained by ICE
After more than ten days detained in the Dilley immigration center, a place that has been the focus of criticism and protests for the harsh conditions in which migrants are keptthe judge in charge of the case, Fred Biery, ordered his release on Saturday, January 31.
The judicial resolution established that The measure had to be fulfilled before Tuesday of that week, putting an end, at least momentarily, to the Rabbit situation.
According to the newspaper, the judge noted that the case against both “has its genesis in the government’s ill-conceived and incompetently implemented pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”
this sunday Democratic congressman from Texas, Joaquín Castro, confirmed that both Liam and his father had been released and were already returning home.in Minneapolis.
“Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his father, Adrian, were released from the Dilley Detention Center. I picked them up last night and accompanied them back to Minnesota this morning,” the congressman stated.
Liam and his Dad walked out of Dilley detention center last night. They should have never been there in the first place. Thanks to your voices and outcry, they are now free. pic.twitter.com/eUulSWBROn
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) February 1, 2026
Castro, who has been closely involved in Liam’s case, also shared images of the moment when the little boy was received with special attention by the plane crew.
In them he is seen smiling, invited to spend a few minutes in the cockpit, a simple gesture that contrasted with the days of confinement and marked one of the first moments of relief after the tension experienced.