What do the Justice Department immigration records show about Liam Conejo Ramos and his father's cases?
Executive summary
Justice Department immigration records reported by multiple outlets show that Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, have an active, pending asylum case that was docketed in immigration court on December 17, 2024, with no final removal order listed — meaning their cases remain in the immigration court pipeline rather than closed by deportation [1] [2]. Those same records and contemporaneous reporting place both father and son in federal custody at the Dilley family residential/processing center in Texas while their pending proceedings continue [1] [3] [4].
1. What the Justice Department records state about the docket and status
Public reporting based on Justice Department Executive Office for Immigration Review records notes a concrete docket entry: the family's immigration court case was filed on December 17, 2024, and is recorded as pending in EOIR systems, which reporters have cited to explain that neither Liam nor his father have an active deportation order in the system that would permit immediate removal [1] [2]. That administrative status — “pending” — is a technical but important detail: it means the immigration court process is underway and the Justice Department’s immigration-court database does not show the father or child as having completed removal proceedings [2].
2. Where the pair are being held and what records show about custody
Multiple outlets, relying on government and court material, report that both Liam and his father were moved from Minnesota to the South Texas family residential/processing center in Dilley, where family units are held during immigration processing; news coverage and congressional visits confirm the father and child have been detained together there [1] [5] [3] [4]. EOIR docket entries do not by themselves explain detention site choices, but the Justice Department records that reporters consulted corroborate that their cases remain active while DHS keeps them in federal custody at Dilley [1] [2].
3. Conflicting official accounts and what records do not resolve
Justice Department immigration-court records confirm the pending legal status but do not resolve competing narratives about the arrest itself: Columbia Heights school officials, witnesses and the family’s lawyer say ICE used the child as “bait” and that the father did not flee, while DHS characterized the father as having fled and said the child was temporarily cared for by officers [1] [6] [7]. Records in EOIR will reflect procedural posture and filings; they do not adjudicate contested factual accounts of the arrest on a Minneapolis driveway — that dispute is documented in news reporting but is separate from the docket status [1] [6] [7].
4. Court action and temporary stays visible in public records
Federal court filings and reporting show that a U.S. district judge issued a temporary order preventing removal or transfer of Liam and his father while litigation proceeds, effectively pausing any immediate deportation even as their immigration docket remains open [8] [6] [4]. That judicial intervention is consistent with EOIR entries showing pending cases and with reporting that officials and lawmakers — including Representative Joaquin Castro — visited the pair in detention while legal challenges play out [5] [9] [10].
5. What the Justice Department records do not say, and the limits of public reporting
The EOIR docket entries and Justice Department records cited in reporting establish case filing date and pending status, but they do not provide granular evidence about the family’s port-of-entry handling, the substance of asylum claims, or the full factual record of the arrest — meaning reporters must rely on DHS statements, the family’s attorney, local witnesses and court filings for those elements [11] [9] [6]. Journalistic accounts also use additional government datasets (for example, aggregated detention figures) to situate this case within broader ICE family-detentions trends, but those macro data points are distinct from the EOIR docket specifics and are reported separately [12].