Deputy AG denies 5-year-old, father has asylum claim after family released from ICE detention

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that the 5-year-old boy and his father, who were detained by ICE in Minneapolis last month, did not apply for asylum, as officials announced that the family was released over the weekend.

Blanche said there have been conflicting claims regarding the legal status of the boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who entered the U.S. in 2024, according to public reporting, though officials and the family’s lawyers dispute the circumstances of their entry and asylum processing. Lawyers representing the Ecuadorian family say they have an active asylum claim currently being processed, allowing them to remain in the country pending a court decision.

The deputy attorney general denied that they have a pending asylum case, echoing previous claims by the Department of Homeland Security, which described the family as being in the country illegally.

"That is not true. There’s a very meaningful dispute about whether they had properly applied for asylum," Blanche said during an appearance on ABC’s "This Week." 

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