Federal Judge Skewers Trump Administration for ‘Traumatizing Children’ While Ordering Release of Liam Canejo Ramos

A federal judge issued a scathing rebuke of the Trump administration in a Saturday court order calling for the release of five-year-old Liam Canejo Ramos and his father from ICE custody.

Under the court order, Liam and his father, Adrián Alexander Conejo Arias, are to be released by Tuesday from a Texas detention center where they were taken after being detained by ICE officers in Minnesota. Conejo Arias is originally from Ecuador.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery wrote, “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 continued, “Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned.”

The judge then schooled the administration, writing, “Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. That is called the fox guarding the henhouse. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.”

Judge Biery concluded, “Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more
orderly and humane policy than currently in place.”

Photos of the child wearing a bunny hat while being taken into ICE custody on Jan. 20 sparked outrage among anti-ICE protesters.

CNN’s Julia Vargas Jones reported from a Los Angeles anti-ICE protest, saying that the judge “wants a full report from the government by Wednesday, making sure that that Liam and his father were indeed released by Wednesday.”

She continued, “Of course, that photo of him with his backpack handle being held by a DHS agent and his little bunny hat has become so iconic…Time and again, a bunch of different protesters have come out with signs that show or portray Liam or allude to his story in some kind of way. One person telling me that every time that they see a photo of Liam, they cry.”

Earlier Saturday, U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez ruled the Trump administration’s ICE raids could continue in Minnesota.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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