A five-year-old boy whose image went viral during an ICE arrest in Minnesota is now sick, lethargic, and repeatedly asking for his mother while being held in a Texas detention center, according to his family and members of Congress who visited him this week.
Liam Conejo Ramos was detained last week alongside his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Photos of Liam wearing a blue bunny-ear hat and a Spider-Man backpack quickly spread online, becoming a flashpoint in the growing backlash to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.
On Wednesday, Democratic Representatives Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett visited Liam and his father at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. According to The Independent, both lawmakers said the child appeared unwell and emotionally distressed.
Rep. Joaquin Castro said Liam, a 5-year-old boy detained by ICE, appeared lethargic during a recent visit. The child is reportedly ill, according to his mother, who said he has experienced fever, vomiting, stomach pain, and difficulty eating while in detention. pic.twitter.com/RA0pchMhnS
— Rafael’s Thoughts 💭 (@rafaelsthoughts) January 29, 2026
“He seemed lethargic,” Castro told reporters after the visit. “His father said that Liam has been sleeping a lot, that he’s been asking about his family, his mom and his classmates, and saying that he wants to go be back in school with his classmates.”
Castro added that the boy has been asking about the belongings he was carrying when ICE detained them. “He’s asked about his backpack and his cap that he was wearing when they picked him up in Minnesota,” he said.
Crockett described similar concerns, saying Liam was barely responsive during their visit. “He was so lethargic. He was never alert, the entire time that we were there,” she said. “I was very, very concerned about his health.”
According to Crockett, Liam’s father told her the child has stopped eating and that staff had determined he was depressed. She also said Liam has only one set of clothes, which his father washes each night after the child falls asleep.
Protesters marched on the ICE detention facility in Dilley, Texas, demanding the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos.
His father left him and his mother doesn’t want him.
It’s always ICE’s fault in the eyes of the left. pic.twitter.com/t3gGSISy2s
— True Texas Project (@TrueTXProject) January 29, 2026
Liam’s mother, Erika Ramos, told Minnesota Public Radio that her son’s physical health has worsened since being detained. “The situation of my husband Adrian and my son Liam inside the detention center is deeply concerning,” she said. “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.”
Concerns raised by the lawmakers extended beyond Liam’s condition to the facility itself. Crockett said that detainees complained about the quality of drinking water, alleging it was making people sick.
“They consistently talked about the water and how awful it was,” she said, adding that detainees claimed previous contamination had been addressed by rudimentary fixes.
Attorney Eric Lee, who attempted to visit the Dilley facility over the weekend, echoed those concerns, saying that the water used to prepare baby formula was “putrid,” and alleging that food contained bugs and dirt.
Castro also said attorneys had reported clients being confined to their rooms and raised concerns about access to medical care inside the facility.
Liam Ramos ICE case: A federal judge barred deportation after the 5-year-old detained Jan. 20 was transferred from Minnesota to a South Texas ICE facility.
Texas lawmakers visited the child in Dilley as protests and health concerns intensified.
What happened after the viral… pic.twitter.com/kqZYTncpBH
— Chron (@chron) January 29, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security disputed those claims. In a statement, spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the Dilley center was not on lockdown and denied allegations of medical neglect.
“ICE would NEVER deny any illegal alien medical care,” McLaughlin said, adding that misinformation has contributed to a rise in assaults on ICE officers.
Federal officials have defended Liam’s detention, insisting he was not targeted. McLaughlin said ICE agents “abided by the father’s wishes to keep the child with him,” while an ICE enforcement official accused Liam’s father of abandoning the child in a vehicle during winter conditions.
Castro said he plans to return to Dilley to check on Liam and other detained children.
“Liam did not look well,” he wrote on X. “My staff and I are very concerned about him.”
