The cruelty and injustice on the snow-covered streets of Minneapolis were plain for all to see.
Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year old little boy wearing a fluffy, blue-and-white bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack who has just returned home from preschool was surrounded by immigration agents and detained along with his dad, Adrian Conejo Arias, an Ecuadorean who, according to his lawyer, had legally entered the U.S under American guidelines for asylum.
They were then taken to an ICE detention facility in Dilley, Texas, more than a thousand miles from home. A facility that is now experiencing a measles outbreak.
The image of little Liam, standing forlornly in the ice and snow immediately became the face of Donald Trump’s brutal mass deportation drive.
Americans, already incensed by the recent shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two fellow citizens at the hands of ICE agents, expressed their outrage in many forums and in many ways.
But none as eloquently, forcefully, and effective as Texas U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in his Opinion and Order granting the release of father and son.
In his “blistering,” “scathing,” “fiery” Opinion, Judge Biery condemns the detention and removal of Liam and his father from their neighborhood as “unconstitutional” and blasts the Trump administration for its “ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”
The order that starts with “Before the Court is the petition of asylum seeker Adrian Conejo Arias and his five-year-old son for protection of the Great Writ of habeas corpus. They seek nothing more than some modicum of due process and the rule of law.” can be read here.
Here are some excerpts.
Judge Biery recalls some of the enumerated grievances in the Declaration of Independence “against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation”: (of which the government is apparently ignorant):
1. “He has sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People.”
2. “He has excited domestic Insurrection among us.”
3. “For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us.”
4. “He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our Legislatures.”
He continues:
“We the people” are hearing echos of that history. And then there is that pesky inconvenience called the Fourth Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and persons or things to be seized.
He then provides a brief “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.
Then comes the clincher: “Accordingly, the Court finds that the Constitution of these United States trumps this administration’s detention of petitioner Adrian Conejo Arias and his minor son, L.C.R. The Great Writ and release from detention are GRANTED pursuant to the attached Judgment.”
Finally, a “to whom the glove fits”:
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.
Perhaps most apropos is how the Judge signs the order:
Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: “Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?” “A republic, if you can keep it. “With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike,
It is so ORDERED. SIGNED this 31st day of February,2026.
FRED BIERY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Underneath the Judge’s signature is the image of young Liam in his bunny outfit and two citations to the New Testament, “Matthew 19:14” and “John 11:35.”
The first citation quotes Jesus saying, “let the little children come to me. The second reads that “Jesus wept.”
Today, Liam and his Dad are safely back home in Minneapolis, where they belong.
Welcoming Liam back home, Minnesota’s U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, said in a social media post that he “should be in school and with family — not in detention,” adding “Now ICE needs to leave.”
To that, we add, “Thank you, Judge Biery!”
