The father of a 5-year-old boy detained by immigration officials and being held at a federal facility in Texas denied the government’s claims on Monday, saying he abandoned his son when the two returned to Minnesota.
Adrian Conejo Arias, of Ecuador, told ABC News he loved his son Liam and would never abandon him, and disputed the Department of Homeland Security’s statement that Arias left the child in the car. He also said his son fell ill while in federal custody but was not given medication.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Arias fled on foot before being arrested and “abandoned his children.” She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents remained with the boy.
“The facts of this case have not changed: the father, who is in the country illegally, chose to take his children to a detention center,” she said.
McLaughlin did not respond to Arias’ claims that his son was not receiving medication while in custody.
Arias also said he was unjustly arrested and claimed he was in the country legally and that a court hearing on his asylum application was pending.
The comments came after a federal judge ordered the pair’s release over the weekend. They were released and returned to Minnesota on Sunday, according to Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro.
The family’s arrests and releases come amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, which has led to daily protests that have included the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens by federal officers. The president last week ordered his top border adviser to oversee the crackdown, days after Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old critical care nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, was shot to death.
Border Czar Tom Homan said mistakes have been made, but he said agents will continue to enforce federal laws and called on local and state officials to cooperate with federal officials.
The boy’s detention sparked outrage as photos began to surface of immigration officials surrounding the young boy wearing a blue bunny hat and carrying a Spider-Man backpack.
McLaughlin said ICE was not targeting or arresting the boy, and she reiterated that his mother refused to take him after his father was arrested. She said his father told police he wanted Liam to be with him.
McLaughlin also said last month that the child had been abandoned and police were trying to get the child’s mother to take custody of the child. “Officials even assured her that she would not be detained.”
Neighbors and school officials said federal officials used the child as “bait” to knock on the door so his mother would come out. The Department of Homeland Security disputes that characterization.
Marcos Charles, ICE’s acting executive deputy director for enforcement and removal operations, accused the father of “abandoning his child in a car in the middle of winter.” He told reporters that one officer stayed with the child while others arrested the father.
The government said the boy’s father entered the United States illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. An attorney for the boy’s family said the boy’s asylum application is pending, allowing him to stay in the United States
The vast majority of asylum seekers are released in the United States as adults eligible for work permits while their cases play out in a backlogged court system.
Ecuadorians have left in droves in recent years as the country descended into violence, but judges fared poorly in immigration courts in the 12 months through September, granting asylum in 12.5 percent of rulings, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse University data collection and research group.
In ordering the release of Liam and his father, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery lashed out at the government, writing that the case “stems from the government’s ill-conceived and inadequate enforcement of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatic consequences for children.”
Online court records from the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review show there will be no future hearings for Liam’s father.