Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Friday it was seeking to deport a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy detained in Minnesota last month.
The federal department responsible for immigration enforcement denied it was seeking expedited deportations after the boy’s attorney, Liam Conejo Ramos, told The New York Times that the Trump administration was seeking expedited deportations.
Attorney Danielle Molliver called the move “unusual” and potentially “retaliatory.”
“These are routine deportation proceedings,” department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, adding, “This is standard procedure and there is no retaliation in enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”
Lawyers for Liam and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Liam and his father, Adrian Cornejo Arias, who both entered the U.S. legally as asylum applicants, were detained at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dilley, Texas, until a judge ordered their release on Jan. 31.
They were released and returned to Minnesota.
The Trump administration defended the move, with the Department of Homeland Security accusing Cornejo Arias of being in the United States illegally, without providing further details.
When federal agents arrested the 5-year-old boy, who was photographed outside his home wearing a blue bunny hat and carrying a Spider-Man backpack, the case drew national attention.
President Donald Trump and top officials have said in recent weeks that he has deployed thousands of agents to Minnesota as part of an immigration crackdown with the goal of de-escalating tensions in the state.
Protests have broken out across Minnesota against the deployment of immigration agents, who shot and killed two U.S. citizens in the state.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter)
