Federal Government Appeals Judge's Order, Seeks to Send 5-Year-Old Liam Conejo and His Father Back to Detention

Months after being detained by immigration authorities, Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old boy wearing a blue bunny hat who was taken into custody with his father during raids in Minnesota earlier this year, could be sent back to detention.

As reported by CBS News, the federal government is seeking to return the boy to detention after the Justice Department filed a notice of appeal this week in federal court in Texas, challenging a January ruling that freed Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, from an immigration detention facility.

The child and his father were detained by immigration authorities in Minneapolis on Jan. 20 and later transferred to a facility in Dilley, Texas. Wearing a blue bunny hat, images of Conejo Ramos quickly went viral as a symbol of children caught up in President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement operations.

According to the filing, obtained by CBS News, the federal government is appealing a ruling by U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, who ordered both father and son released after finding their constitutional rights had been violated.

"The first time they came for us, it was unjust. The second time they came for us is unjust. We are not giving into their fear," Adrian Conejo Arias told CBS News through his attorney, Danielle Molliver.

According to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson who spoke to the outlet, both father and son received full due process and were issued a final order of removal on Feb. 19. In the past, the agency has said officers did not target the child and denied allegations that agents used Conejo Ramos as "bait" during the arrest operation to get his mother, Erika Ramos, to open the door of their home. The agency has stated that the father fled and that officers ensured the child's safety.

"The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system and will continue to fight for the arrest, detention and removal of illegal aliens who have no right to be in this country," the spokesperson continued.

In addition to the release order, an immigration judge earlier this month denied the family's asylum claim, leaving them eligible for deportation. Their attorneys are appealing that decision, but the government's appeal of their release challenges a narrow protection in Biery's order which stated that if they are re-detained, they must receive a bond hearing.

In an interview with MPR News, Conejo Arias said he was not surprised by the judge's decision because the hearing dates were fast and "extremely close together."

"We weren't given the opportunity to mount a proper defense and now they are rushing things through," he said.

Molliver said she has filed at least a dozen habeas corpus petitions in recent weeks and has won each case, but has not received notice of the government appealing any of them.

"So it's very unique and very strange, to be honest," she added. "It's very unclear why the government is investing so many resources to fight this family."

Molliver said the firm will appeal the decision by the April 7 deadline. The government must file its argument against the appeal by April 28, MPR News noted.