5-Year-Old Minnesota Boy Fell ‘Ill’ and ‘Is Not Doing Great’ in ICE Detention: ‘He’s Been Depressed and Sad’

Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, has reportedly not been feeling well since he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota earlier this month.

Zena Stenvik, superintendent of the Columbia Heights Public Schools District, told Huffington Post that she spoke with Liam’s mother, Erika Ramos, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, and said it was clear she was “incredibly distraught” about the situation.

“Unfortunately, Liam’s health is not doing great right now,” Stenvik told the outlet. “He’s been ill. I’ve been told he has a fever. So I’m very, very concerned about his well-being in that facility,” referring to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, are being held.

The comments came after Erika told Minnesota Public Radio earlier this week that her husband and son were still detained.

“The situation of my husband Adrian and my son Liam inside the detention center is deeply concerning,” Erika told MPR News on Monday, Jan. 26.

“Liam is getting sick because the food they receive is not of good quality. He has stomach pain, he’s vomiting, he has a fever and he no longer wants to eat,” she said.

Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro visited Liam and his father at the family residential center in Dilley on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

He documented the visit on social media, saying in a video message on X that he spent about 30 minutes with them, though Liam was asleep for the meeting.

Castro said Liam’s condition was not a physical “emergency,” but added, “His dad said that he hasn’t been himself, he’s been sleeping a lot because he’s been depressed and sad.”

Castro also said Liam’s family, school, classmates, principal, legal team and mother have been “worried sick,” adding that “the whole country’s been worried about him” as well.

Castro later told CNN that Liam had been asking about the knitted blue hat and Spider-Man backpack he was seen wearing in widely shared images from the arrest.

“He keeps asking about that hat and that backpack that are in the picture,” Castro said, per the outlet. “I think they took that from him.”

Castro posted a photograph of himself with a sleeping Liam and Liam’s father on Instagram on Wednesday, writing in the caption: “Just visited with Liam and his father at Dilley detention center. I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond when contacted for comment. Attempts to reach Castro were also unsuccessful.

DHS has previously claimed Liam’s father, who is from Ecuador, entered the country illegally in December 2024. But the family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, said they entered lawfully at a border crossing in Brownsville, Texas.

I just visited Liam and his father. I also met with countless more children and families who have done nothing wrong and should not be detained.

My full update on visiting the Dilley detention center: pic.twitter.com/4I9ohfso3K

— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) January 28, 2026

DHS has alleged that Liam’s father fled from agents during the arrest, leaving his son behind, and that Liam’s mother, who was inside their home at the time, “refused to accept custody” of the boy. DHS said the father eventually told agents he wanted Liam to remain with him.

Leecia Welch, chief legal counsel at Children’s Rights, said illness has been an issue at the Dilley, Texas, detention center this winter. She said that when she visited recently to review conditions, “Pretty much everyone we talked to was sick.”

One 16-year-old told her he had gotten sick seven times while in the facility.

“People should understand that detention of children, whether it’s with their families or not, is inhumane and un-American,” Welch said. She added that in her group’s work meeting with children in detention facilities, many have shown signs of trauma even after short periods.

Welch also said children have displayed extreme sadness, despondency and depression, and that some have experienced panic attacks while detained.

“Some of the conditions of confinement and treatment that we have been monitoring over the many months, include denial of critical medical care,” she said. Welch added that during a visit in November, families reported finding worms and mold in food, which she said made children sick.

“Families have been threatened with family separation there,” she continued. “And so there’s a range of concerns that we’ve heard over these months.”

A spokesperson for Liam’s Columbia Heights Public Schools District said in an email that the boy “is one of four students that we know of who have been picked up by ICE in our community.”

“The continued detention of children, and actions that pull families apart has no place anywhere, especially not in a community built around schools,” the spokesperson said.

“Our request is for a ceasing of this terror in our community and a return to a sense of normalcy so students can learn and staff can teach. We need families to be reunited and for the lawlessness of the immigration actions to cease,” the spokesperson added.