A federal judge has ordered the release of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, whose detention by immigration agents sparked widespread anger over the Trump Administration’s mass deportation agenda.

The boy’s case attracted national attention after he was photographed on Jan. 20 wearing a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack while being detained by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in his home’s driveway.

The image surfaced between two high-profile killings and, for many, became another symbol of the brutality of President Donald Trump’s crackdown.

Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, both Ecuadorians who entered the United States legally as asylum seekers, were transferred to a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

In a harsh three-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery condemned what he called a “perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty” underlying the detention.

“This case stems from the ill-conceived and incompetently executed government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even when it means traumatizing children,” Judge Biery wrote in a ruling issued Saturday, ordering the release of the boy and his father “as soon as practicable” but no later than Feb. 3.

Judge Biery denounced the detentions as unconstitutional, accusing the Trump Administration of showing “ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence.”

He appended the viral photograph of Liam Ramos at the bottom of his order, along with two Bible verses: “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,'” and “Jesus wept.”

Judge Biery acknowledged that the father and son might still be deported to their home country, but insisted that process should follow a “more orderly and humane policy.”

The Ramos family’s attorneys stated they were “working closely with our clients and their family to ensure a safe and timely reunion.”

TIME contacted representatives for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which supervises ICE, seeking comment.

DHS had previously defended the detention, stating it was conducting “a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias,” Liam’s father.

“Our officers made multiple attempts to get the alleged mother who was inside the house to take custody of her child,” the agency said. “Officers even assured her she would NOT be taken into custody. The alleged mother refused to accept custody of the child.”

Liam’s mother accused DHS and ICE of using Liam as bait to detain his parents.

“They used my boy as bait. Even so, my husband desperately insisted that I not go out, especially because we have another child and I am pregnant,” Erika Ramos told Telemundo in Spanish. “His only intention was to protect us, like any responsible husband and father.”

The family came to the U.S. from Ecuador through a Biden-era immigration program that permitted asylum seekers to wait for their appointments in the country without facing deportation threats. The Trump Administration later terminated the program.

They were taken into custody on Jan. 20 after coming back from Liam’s preschool.

A family attorney has stated that Liam’s father has no criminal record, and DHS officials have not contradicted this.

President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem continue to assert they are targeting “criminals,” even while children, immigrants without criminal records, and legal residents are being detained.

Last weekend, a child was taken into ICE custody in Minnesota and flown to Texas with her father before being returned to her mother the next day. The young girl was removed from the state despite an emergency court order that mandated the child’s immediate release.

The Liam Ramos case has sparked national criticism of ICE’s tactics and use of force in Operation Metro Force, the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota. “He has become emblematic of the monstrosity of the ICE system and the detention system,” Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro said of Ramos.

This occurs as Minneapolis has become a focal point of protests against ICE presence after federal agents shot and killed two people in the city last month.