A federal judge’s ruling over the weekend has turned an immigration enforcement case into something closer to a political sermon, complete with scripture, Revolutionary War analogies, and a carefully curated photograph.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered the release of Adrian Conejo Arias, an illegal alien apprehended by ICE in Minneapolis, along with his five-year-old son, Liam Conejo Ramos, grounding his decision almost entirely in emotional and ideological critique rather than the underlying facts of the case.
Biery, a Clinton appointee, framed his ruling around the claim that the Trump administration had “traumatized” the child, despite the fact that the boy was being held with his father at the father’s own request in a San Antonio detention facility.
The judge went further, suggesting that Arias was detained not because of immigration law enforcement, but because ICE was allegedly chasing deportation “quotas,” characterizing the arrest as “ill-conceived and incompetently implemented.” That accusation, notably, was asserted rather than demonstrated.
Liam is home now and we are grateful to @JoaquinCastrotx for traveling to Minneapolis with him and his dad.
Welcome home Liam ❤️❤️ https://t.co/nqza20kLkv pic.twitter.com/EPr0sLJo9g
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 1, 2026
The ruling veered quickly away from law and into rhetoric. Biery accused the Trump administration of conduct reminiscent of British abuses that led to the American Revolution, scolding the government for its supposed ignorance of the Declaration of Independence. He then included a photograph of the child — Spiderman backpack and blue knitted bunny hat prominently featured — and closed the emotional appeal by quoting the New Testament. The message was unmistakable: this was not merely a legal decision, but a moral rebuke.
What went largely unaddressed in the ruling is the sequence of events that led to the child’s temporary separation from his father. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Arias was with his son when ICE officers approached. Arias fled on foot, leaving the five-year-old behind.
Federal officers took custody of the child, ensured he was fed, and later apprehended the father. That version of events directly contradicts early media and Democratic claims that ICE “used the child as bait” or “stole him from preschool,” narratives that fueled protests and political theater.
Those theatrics continued after the detention, with protesters surrounding the San Antonio facility and prominent Democratic politicians making high-profile visits. Representative Joaquin Castro went so far as to personally escort the pair back to Minnesota after the ruling, while Representative Jasmine Crockett used the situation as part of her Senate campaign visibility.
Judge Biery had already issued an earlier order blocking deportation, but this ruling pushes further, signaling a judicial willingness to substitute personal moral judgment for immigration law. Whether one agrees with the policy or not, the precedent is clear: enforcement decisions can be undone not on statutory grounds, but on the emotional framing a judge finds most compelling.
