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, the superintendent for Liam’s Columbia Heights Public Schools District, told Huffington Post that she’d spoken to the boy’s mother, Erika Ramos, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, and 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 the father and son are being detained.

The comments came after Liam’s mom told Minnesota Public Radio earlier this week that her son and her husband, Adrian Conejo Arias, were still being held.

“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,” Erika said.

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

He documented his visit on social media, saying in a video message on X that he’d spent around 30 minutes with the father and son, but Liam hadn’t been awake at the time.

Castro stressed that it wasn’t an “emergency” physically regarding Liam, but said in the clip, “His dad said that he hasn’t been himself, he’s been sleeping a lot because he’s been depressed and sad.”

Castro pointed out that “the whole country’s been worried about him,” as well as “his school and his classmates and his principal, his legal team and his mom” have been “worried sick.”

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

Castro spoke to CNN on Wednesday, saying that Liam had been asking about the knitted blue hat and Spider-Man backpack that he’d been wearing in the heartbreaking images showing him being detained, which circulated online.

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

Castro posted a photograph of himself with a sleeping Liam and his dad 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 didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment. PEOPLE has also attempted to reach out to Castro.

DHS 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.

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 on the day the pair were detained, had “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, recently told PEOPLE that illness has been an issue in the Dilley, Texas, detainment center this winter, sharing that when she visited recently to check in on the conditions, “Pretty much everyone we talked to was sick.”

One 16-year-old told her he’d gotten sick seven times 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. “We’ve met with hundreds of children in detention facilities, and far too many of these children were showing signs of trauma, even after short periods of being detained.”

Welch told PEOPLE that children have exhibited extreme sadness, despondency and depression, and some had been having panic attacks as a result of their detainment.

“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, adding that during a visit in November, families said worms and mold were in their food, resulting in children becoming 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 told PEOPLE 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,” they added.

“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 said.

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, the superintendent for Liam’s Columbia Heights Public Schools District, told Huffington Post that she’d spoken to the boy’s mother, Erika Ramos, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, and 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 the father and son are being detained.

The comments came after Liam’s mom told Minnesota Public Radio earlier this week that her son and her husband, Adrian Conejo Arias, were still being held.

“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,” Erika said.

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

He documented his visit on social media, saying in a video message on X that he’d spent around 30 minutes with the father and son, but Liam hadn’t been awake at the time.

Castro stressed that it wasn’t an “emergency” physically regarding Liam, but said in the clip, “His dad said that he hasn’t been himself, he’s been sleeping a lot because he’s been depressed and sad.”

Castro pointed out that “the whole country’s been worried about him,” as well as “his school and his classmates and his principal, his legal team and his mom” have been “worried sick.”

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

Castro spoke to CNN on Wednesday, saying that Liam had been asking about the knitted blue hat and Spider-Man backpack that he’d been wearing in the heartbreaking images showing him being detained, which circulated online.

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

Castro posted a photograph of himself with a sleeping Liam and his dad 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 didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment. PEOPLE has also attempted to reach out to Castro.

DHS 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.

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 on the day the pair were detained, had “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, recently told PEOPLE that illness has been an issue in the Dilley, Texas, detainment center this winter, sharing that when she visited recently to check in on the conditions, “Pretty much everyone we talked to was sick.”

One 16-year-old told her he’d gotten sick seven times 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. “We’ve met with hundreds of children in detention facilities, and far too many of these children were showing signs of trauma, even after short periods of being detained.”

Welch told PEOPLE that children have exhibited extreme sadness, despondency and depression, and some had been having panic attacks as a result of their detainment.

“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, adding that during a visit in November, families said worms and mold were in their food, resulting in children becoming 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 told PEOPLE 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,” they added.

“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 said.