The father of a 5-year-old boy detained in Minnesota is denying claims from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that he abandoned his son.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News that aired Monday, Adrian Conejo Arias denied deserting his son after officers arrived in their driveway to detain him several weeks ago. The father said he was simply attempting to find help.

"I love my son too much," he told ABC. "I would never abandon him."

Conejo Arias, who is originally from Ecuador, and his son were detained by federal immigration officials when the boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, returned home from pre-school earlier this month. Immigration officers transported the pair to a Texas detention facility.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that Arias "fled on foot - abandoning his child" when approached by officers and said he and his son were transported to the detention center together because no one else was available to care for the child.

The superintendent of the boy`s school district, Zena Stenvik, disputed this explanation, telling Minnesota Public Radio that another adult inside of the home "begged the agents to let him take care of the small child."

The pair were released from the Texas detention center on Sunday following an order from a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery sharply criticized the federal government`s handling of the case and broader immigration enforcement methods in his opinion, citing an "ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas."

"Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency," Biery wrote. "And the rule of law be damned."