Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wants to quickly send 5 year-old Liam Ramos and his father out of the country.

Images of Ramos in a blue bunny hat went viral last month after he was detained by ICE officers in Minneapolis.

Ramos and his father are asylum seekers from Ecuador and have since been released from a detention center in Texas and returned to Minnesota.

But the Department of Homeland Security filed a motion to expedite deportation proceedings in the family's asylum case.

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An immigration attorney told Scripps News the development matches the Trump administration's immigration goals.

"This is just part of a much larger picture is, you know, in which the Trump administration is doing everything it possibly can quickly detain and deport as many migrants as possible," said Philip Schrag, Delaney Family professor of public interest law at Georgetown University. "Even migrants who like this family have a pending asylum case. So this family is legally in the United States because they have pending asylum case and they should not be deported until case is resolved."

Ramos' attorney says the family was following all established protocols for pursuing asylum in the U.S. and should have never been detained in the first place. They called the new effort to deport the family uncommon and retaliatory.

Trump administration officials have argued the family did not properly apply for asylum.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the case.

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Ramos and his father could be deported in a matter of weeks. A hearing in their case was scheduled for Friday. Their attorneys are requesting more time to respond to the government's motion to support the family.

Several U.S. warships deployed by the Trump administration arrived at the Bay of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, increasing global attention on Haiti during a volatile moment for its government.

According to U.S. Southern Command, the deployment of USS Stockdale, USCGC Stone, and USCGC Diligence comes under the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, as part of "Operation Southern Spear," a U.S. military campaign aimed at targeting alleged drug traffickers across the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

The operation has already resulted in more than 100 deaths from boat strikes, with officials saying the goal is to curb organized crime and strengthen security in the region.

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The U.S. Embassy in Haiti described the arrival of the warships as reflecting America's "unwavering commitment to the security, stability, and a brighter future for the Republic of Haiti." While part of ongoing crime-fighting efforts, the move has also been interpreted as a strong message of support and a show of force amid escalating political tensions.

This week's developments come ahead of a critical deadline: February 7, which marks the end of the mandate for Haiti's nine-member Transitional Presidential Council. Tensions have risen steadily, especially since the council was recently hit with U.S. visa restrictions after voting to remove the current prime minister, defying calls from the U.S. government to maintain stability.

Accusations by the U.S. against senior Haitian officials for allegedly supporting gangs have added to the country's instability. The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday publicly backed the current prime minister, saying it supports his "Prime Minister Fils-Aim's leadership in building a strong, prosperous, and free Haiti.

Deepfake technology is becoming more convincing and more dangerous as artificial intelligence improves.

They are no longer limited to prerecorded videos. Deepfakes can now be used in real time.

There are apps on the internet people can actually access, which can create real-time impersonation of someone, especially in online interview or meeting settings, said Professor Siwei Lyu, director of the University at Buffalo Institute for Artificial and Data Science.

Lyu said triple-checking whether someone online is a real person will likely become standard practice as deepfakes continue to improve.

You literally can put somebody in a totally different background based on maybe one image of that person's face, create a full animation of that person, he said. And the quality is very high, that it's difficult to tell them apart.

Face-swap deepfakes surged more than 700% in 2023, and by 2024, a deepfake fraud attempt occurred every five minutes, according to identity security firms.

Deepfake experts like Lyu say detection tricks can still be useful.

Can you take your hand and put it in front of your face to like cover it partially? Lyu said.

But he noted those tricks will likely be addressed as the technology improves.

The technology is developing very fast, but it has not reached the level that we truly have no way to tell if this is a real person or not yet, Lyu said.

Deepfakes are not going away, but experts say making them harder and more expensive to carry out could help slow their spread and limit the most harmful uses.

Amid the Trump administration's ongoing deportation campaign in Minnesota, clergy from across the country descended upon Minneapolis to protest in solidarity and support local communities.

"Loving your neighbor means showing up," Rev. Carolina Bright, a Unitarian Universalist minister who traveled from Vermont, told Scripps News.

"It truly has been a privilege to be able to be here," Bright said. "The resilience that I've been able to bear witness to, the truth of what's happening here on the ground is devastating and it's beautiful."

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Bright was among more than 600 clergy members who responded to a call from Multifaith Antiracism, Change & Healing (MARCH).

In its clergy call, the group said this moment demands that others cometo witness what is being tested here, to learn from how communities are responding, and to help bear the burden together. What is unfolding in Minneapolis will not stay here.

"It is imperative when we see that horrible things happen we have to respond," said Rev. T. Michael Rock, who leads a congregation at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Rock was a part of the MARCH steering committee that organized the massive gathering of clergy in Minneapolis just days before a border patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti.

"In this call to have all these clergy come into town was to answer the question, what can I do for you, but also something's happening here that we want to share with the world as well," Rock said.

The Trump administrations immigration crackdown in Minnesota has resulted in heated tension between Minnesota and the federal government. Thousands of federal officers have flooded the Twin Cities at the behest of the administration which blames state and local leaders for not cooperating with immigration enforcement.

In recent weeks, the ramped-up deportation campaign led to high profile shootings of U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, sparking widespread protests and growing calls for ICE to leave the state.

Rabbi Alexander Davis of Beth El Synagogue, whose congregation is based in Minneapolis, described the widespread impact of recent events on the community.

"The pain that's being experienced is all pervasive in all corners of the community. So you can't help as a clergy but want to. Both via pastoral support and raise your voice for justice in this time," Davis said.

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"People of faith have an obligation to step up and speak up when there are things that are happening that are not ethical and that are immoral. And when the call went out to clergy, I knew immediately that I needed to show up because I could," Bright said.

Amid the hundreds of clergy members who came to Minneapolis, nearly 100 were arrested while protesting against ICE deportations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. They were released with citations for trespassing and disobeying police orders.

While Rock was not among those arrested he said he has the full support of his congregation to protest.

"My congregations have always kind of supported us whether it's getting arrested or being on the streets or paying attention to the community in need, Rock said.

"We know this fight and we're in it for the long haul," he said. "This is not a temporary thing to love our neighbors. This is a commandment. And so we're following that sense of who we are as a community."