A photo of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a knitted bunny hat and wearing a Spider-Man backpack while being taken into custody by ICE has come to symbolize public outage over the heavy handed immigration tactics underway in Minneapolis and beyond.
And now #comics4liam has been launched as a grassroots effort to make art to show Liam he is cared for – and highlight the plight of other children who are being detained through no fault of their own.
Ramos was taken into custody by ICE with his father and flown to a detention center in Texas where other children are being kept – and where a measles outbreak is now under way – before a court ordered his return. Congressman Joaquin Castro escorted Liam and his father back to Minnesota over the weekend. DHS claims the child was “abandoned” by his father – although the arrest took place literally in front of his house – which is why they took him into custody.
The #comics4liam project was announced on BlueSky by the Comix Action organization:
Friends, we’re thrilled to announce #Comics4Liam to encourage artists to draw pictures for Liam Conejo Ramos and share links to help Liam’s family and other immigrants persecuted by ICE! Check out comics4liam.com and please do feel free to pitch in! Images by the great @trungles.com!
Friends, we’re thrilled to announce #Comics4Liam to encourage artists to draw pictures for Liam Conejo Ramos and share links to help Liam’s family and other immigrants persecuted by ICE! Check out comics4liam.com and please do feel free to pitch in! Images by the great @trungles.com!
The website is collecting art by the comics community, and they have responded, with contributions pouring in from the likes of Ethan Sacks, Christine Norrie, Grag Pak, Shing Yin Khor, Keezy Young and more.
As the website describes the project:
We’re asking artists to draw pictures for Liam that you think might make this particular boy feel happy and cared for. Maybe drawings of things he might love; maybe pictures of Liam himself as you think he might like to be seen.
Please post your art with the hashtag #Comics4Liam and a link to comics4liam.com, which lists fundraisers for Liam and others victimized by ICE and links to organizations that support immigrants. And please feel free to add Trung Le Nguyen’s “Comics 4 Liam” guideline images above to your own posts to help encourage other artists to join in!
A few other guidelines:
- Please avoid images of Liam in danger or sad.
- Please avoid images that include violence or would otherwise be inappropriate for a five year old.
- Please, NO “A.i.” USE AT ALL.
- Please DO NOT POST YOUR IMAGES ON X (Twitter).
Thank you!
The site also suggest ways to help Liam and other children still being held in detention by donating and raising awareness:
DONATE
GoFundMe – Help Bring 5-Year-Old Liam Home
MN – Stand with Minnesota Donation Directory (compiled by the great Ashley Fairbanks)
TX – American Gateways
TX – RAICES Texas
US-wide – 3D Printed Whistles crew
JOIN (you can donate to many of these, too!)
NY – Hands Off NYC • Make the Road • New York Immigration Coalition • Mixteca • Comix Action • Indivisible Brooklyn
TX – FIEL Houston
ACTION
NY – Hands Off NYC Weekend of Community Action – 2/20 – 2/22/2026
NY – HONYC waitlist for Know Your Rights and ICE Watch training
Three children from Liam’s school remain in ICE custody in Texas, along with approximately 3800 other children.
