The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has confirmed it seeks to deport the five-year-old Ecuadorian boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, Reuters reports.
The boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, entered the USA legally as asylum seekers, but were detained last month.
Images of the little boy with a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack outside his home as federal agents arrived garnered significant attention.
The boy’s attorney, Danielle Molliver, called the deportation “extraordinary.” She told the New York Times that the Trump administration sought swift deportation.
“This is routine deportation procedure. There is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the country’s immigration laws,” department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Reuters.
Liam and his father were held at an immigration detention center in Texas until a judge ordered their release on January 31.
Monday this week, several media outlets reported that Liam and his father had been released from a detention center in Texas.
The release followed a federal judge’s order on Saturday requiring both father and son to be released.
They then returned to Minnesota. The department accuses the father of being unlawfully in the U.S., but provides no further details.
President Donald Trump has sent thousands of agents to Minnesota as part of his immigration campaign.
