Boy, 5, and father detained by ICE in Minnesota are released
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 February 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Liam Ramos and his father were freed from detention in Texas and are now back in Minneapolis. The detention of the boy, photographed wearing a blue bunny-shaped hat, and a Spider-Man backpack sparked a national outcry. Also: The former British Ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, has resigned from the governing Labour Party because he said he does not want to cause further embarrassment by his links to Jeffrey Epstein. He appeared in the latest release of files by the US Department of Justice. Israel has said the Rafah border crossing -- between Gaza and Egypt -- will re-open for Palestinians on Monday. Oil prices fall by three percent in early trading amid signs of a de-escalation in tensions between Iran and the US. Artificial intelligence now has its own social network. And we'll bring you a round up of who won, who lost and who performed on stage at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. This episode has been changed from its original version, for editorial reasons.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | This is the Global News Podcasts from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.9 | I'm Wendy Urquhart and at 430 GMT on Monday the 2nd of February, these are our main stories. |
| 0:18.7 | A five-year-old boy detained by U.S. federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has been released alongside his father. |
| 0:26.5 | A former British cabinet minister resigns from the governing Labour Party over links to Jeffrey Epstein. |
| 0:33.0 | And the Grammys take place in L.A. |
| 0:35.1 | We'll get a roundup of who won, who lost, and who performed on stage. |
| 0:42.6 | Also in this podcast, the Rafa crossing in Gaza is finally expected to reopen for Palestinians. |
| 0:50.9 | I'm really happy that the crossing will be opened after waiting for two years of war. |
| 0:55.4 | When it opens, I shall go for kidney transplant, God willing. |
| 0:58.9 | And we delve into the world of the Japanese samurai. |
| 1:06.9 | One of the defining images of the immigration crackdown in the US city of Minneapolis |
| 1:11.9 | was the detention of a five-year-old boy wearing a blue bunny hat. |
| 1:16.5 | Liam Konejo-Ramos and his father, Adrian, were taken to a detention center in Texas. |
| 1:22.6 | The family are from Ecuador and entered the United States legally as asylum applicants. |
| 1:28.5 | Immigration agents claimed the father abandoned his son when they approached. |
| 1:33.4 | Now a judge has ordered that both father and son be released. |
| 1:37.2 | Our correspondent, Peter Bowes, has been following the story. |
| 1:40.6 | Five-year-old Liam and his father were detained a little under two weeks ago from their |
| 1:46.4 | home in Minneapolis. A little boy had just come home from nursery school when this happened. Now, |
| 1:52.4 | the precise circumstances are disputed. The authorities say that this was an operation to detain |
| 1:59.4 | the father, who they say was in this, or is in this country |
... |
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