Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos should be learning letters, carrying his backpack into class, and tugging his rabbit-eared hat over his head at the school doors in Minnesota. Instead, he is being held with his father in a family detention center in South Texas, more than 1,300 miles from home, after an ICE operation removed him from his driveway. Since his detention, Liam has missed school, become withdrawn, struggled to eat, and repeatedly asked when he can go back to his classmates. According to Joaquin Castro, who recently visited the South Texas Family Residential Center, the child has grown visibly depressed and continues asking about his missing belongings—his backpack and beloved rabbit hat—that were allegedly taken by ICE and never returned. For Liam’s school principal, seeing the viral image of the child asleep in his father’s arms behind detention walls transformed policy debates into a deeply personal trauma affecting the entire student body.

The case has sparked national outrage and renewed scrutiny of immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Jennifer McClellan has called for Liam’s immediate release, confirming the family entered the U.S. legally while seeking asylum. The child’s attorney says they followed all required procedures, while Department of Homeland Security maintains officers acted in the child’s best interest and kept father and son together. Former Vice President Kamala Harris has also condemned the detention, emphasizing that a young child belongs in school, not confinement. As protests grow and lawmakers press for action, Liam’s story has become a painful symbol of how enforcement decisions ripple far beyond paperwork—shaping childhoods, classrooms, and entire communities.