Clinton-Appointed Judge Orders Illegal Released, Claims ICE ‘Traumatized’ His Son

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery has ordered the release of Adrian Conejo Arias, an illegal alien who was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, and his five-year-old son Liam Conejo Ramos.

Biery, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, issued a ruling on Saturday that focused almost entirely on the child — who was being held in a San Antonio detention center with his father, at his father’s request — and blamed President Donald Trump’s administration for leaving the five-year-old “traumatized.”

In his ruling, Biery suggested that Arias had only been swept up because ICE was attempting to meet specific “quotas” for deportation, adding, “the case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

He went on to accuse the Trump administration of taking actions against illegal aliens that were reminiscent of the actions taken by England, driving the American founders to revolt. “Apparent also is the government’s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence,” he wrote.

Judge Biery included one photo in his ruling — a photo of the child with his Spiderman backpack and blue knitted bunny hat — and punctuated that by quoting the New Testament: “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'”

Biery’s ruling ordering the pair to be freed comes after they were visited by prominent Texas politicians like Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), the latter of whom is running for the U.S. Senate.

Castro even went so far as to deliver the two back to Minnesota personally.

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 two have been in the headlines since the day Arias was originally detained, when photos circulated of the little boy alone with ICE officers — prompting Democrats and media to quickly claimed that ICE was detaining a child and using him as bait to draw out his mother.

The Department of Homeland Security told a very different story, however, explaining that Arias had been in a vehicle with Liam when officers approached — but had left his son behind and fled on foot. Federal officers took custody of the boy then, reportedly taking him to McDonalds, while others followed and ultimately apprehended his father.

Since they were detained in San Antonio, protesters have surrounded the facility, claiming that Liam was “stolen from preschool” and demanding his release. Biery had issued a previous ruling stating that Arias and Ramos could not be deported.