Minneapolis School District Where 5-Year-Old Liam Conejo Ramos Attends Closed One Day After His Release Due to Bomb Threat

The school district where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos is enrolled received bomb threats on Monday, Feb. 2.

In a news release, Columbia Heights Public Schools said schools across Minneapolis, Minn., would be closed after multiple buildings in the district were targeted.

“Out of an abundance of caution,” classes were canceled for the day, with instruction set to resume Tuesday, Feb. 3. Several local agencies are investigating the threats and their source. Officials said no suspicious packages or devices were found.

The district has drawn national attention in recent weeks because Liam, a preschool student there, was detained alongside his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 20. The pair were released from the Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, on Sunday, Feb. 1.

During more than a week in detention, Liam’s health was deteriorating, according to district superintendent Zena Stenvik, who told Huffington Post on Jan. 27 that he became ill and developed a fever. Liam’s mother, Erika Ramos, told Minnesota Public Radio on Jan. 28 that he was “getting sick because the food they receive is not of good quality.”

That same day, Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro visited the family at the residential center and later posted about the meeting on X. Castro said Adrian told him Liam was “sleeping a lot because he’s been depressed and sad.”

The father and son were detained in their driveway after returning home from preschool on Jan. 20. Erika, who is three months pregnant, told MPR News that Adrian did not attempt to flee.

After Adrian was taken into custody, agents noticed Liam and brought the crying child to the front door. According to reporting from The Washington Post—citing Columbia Heights Public Schools—agents asked Liam, who was wearing a blue hat with ears and carrying a Spider-Man backpack, to knock on the door to see if anyone else was inside, which the district described as essentially “using a 5-year-old as bait.” Erika told MPR that Liam called out, “Mommy, open the door,” as agents knocked. She said her husband shouted for her not to come outside.

The school district, according to The Washington Post, also said another adult who lives in the home—whose identity has not been made public—was outside at the time and “begged the agents” to leave Liam with them, but agents refused. Liam’s older brother, a middle school student, returned home about 20 minutes later and discovered both his father and younger brother had been taken, the outlet reported.

The Department of Homeland Security has said Adrian, who is from Ecuador, entered the U.S. illegally in December 2024. The family’s attorneys dispute that claim, saying Adrian and Liam entered legally and that both have active asylum claims.

On Saturday, Jan. 31, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas ordered Liam’s release, criticizing what he described as the “government’s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence,” according to the order obtained by The New York Times. Biery also referenced an “ill-conceived and incompetently government pursuit of daily deportation quotas,” writing that it appeared to be carried out “even if it requires traumatizing children.”

After boarding a flight back to Minneapolis, Adrian told ABC News, “I’m happy to finally be going home.” He added, “I love my son too much. I would never abandon him.”