Asylum claim denied for the family of the boy in a bunny hat detained with his father, lawyer says

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An immigration judge has denied the asylum claim of the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old boy photographed in a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack as he was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that shook Minneapolis earlier this year, a family lawyer said.

They were ordered deported to Ecuador, she said.

The boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, who is from Ecuador, were taken into custody in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20 and held for 10 days in a Texas detention center before a judge ordered them released.

The family’s lawyers are appealing the ruling by Judge John Burns.

“We’re just gravely disappointed in the judge’s misguided decision,” said Danielle Molliver. “We’re committed to the family and we’ll fight the appeal, obviously, the best that we can.”

An appeal could take years to move through the courts, though Molliver said she expected the government to push for a speedier process.

“At minimum, I would hope we have a couple months,” she said.

Molliver said Liam is back in his suburban Minneapolis school, but that he and his father were badly shaken by their time in detention.

“They’re scared” now about what could happen, she said.

The arrests and national coverage unfolded during a surge of thousands of immigration officers across the Minneapolis area, leading to daily protests and the shooting deaths of two American citizens by federal officers.

Neighbors and school officials have accused federal immigration officers of using Liam as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would come outside. The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.” Officials have said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a vehicle in their driveway. He has denied that.

The government said the boy’s father entered the U.S. illegally in December 2024. The family’s lawyer, however, say he entered legally, requesting asylum, and that his asylum claim allows him to stay in the U.S.