Federal agents took Liam Conejo Ramos from a running car in the family's driveway on Tuesday afternoon, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters on Wednesday. The officers told him to knock on the door to his home to see if other people were inside, "essentially using a 5-year-old as bait", she said.
Former US Vice President Kamala Harris came down sharply against the American Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a five-year-old child was taken to a detention centre in Texas. In a post on X, Harris said that the child should be at home with the family and "not used as bait by ICE and held in a Texas detention center."
Responding to Harris, Tricia McLaughlin who is the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said that ICE did not use the child as a bait and in a post on X said that the ICE operation on January 20 was aimed at arresting the father of the child. As per McLaughlin, the father abandoned the child and ICE made several attempts to get the mother of the child to take the custody. She said that the father told ICE officers of wanting the child to remain with him.
"Our officer's made multiple attempts to get the alleged mother who was inside the house to take custody of her child. Officers even assured her she would NOT be taken her into custody. The alleged mother refused to accept custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him.
During this situation, agitators swarmed the scene and began yelling and blowing horns, scaring the child.
"Our officers primary concern during the entire operation was the safety and welfare of the child. Following the mother's abandonment of the child, officers abided by the father's wishes to keep the child with him and even got the child McDonald's and played his favourite music. Father and son are together at Dilley."
She further said that parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates.
"This is consistent with past administration's immigration enforcement. Parents can take control of their departure and receive a free flight and $2,600 with the CBP Home app. By using the CBP Home app illegal aliens reserve the chance to come back the right legal way", McLaughlin said on X.
Citing Zena Stenvik, superintendent of the school district in Columbia Heights, CNN reported that the pre-schooler was removed from the family's running car.
As per CNN, the child and the family are originally from Ecuador and had presented themselves to the border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum, as per the family's lawyer, Marc Prokosch, who made the remarks during a press conference Thursday evening.
"These are not illegal aliens. They came properly. They came legally, and are pursuing a legal pathway", Prokosch said.
The father told the child's mother, who was inside the home and has not been named, not to open the door, Stenvik told reporters on Thursday.
School officials said the agents wouldn't leave Liam with another adult who lives at the home or an official from the school district. But on Thursday, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an online post that the father asked for the child to stay with him and that they are together at an immigration lockup in Dilley, Texas.
The family, who came to the US in 2024, has an active asylum case and had not been ordered to leave the country, Stenvik said.
"Why detain a five-year-old?" she asked. "You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal."
McLaughlin said in a statement on Wednesday that "ICE did NOT target a child." She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement was arresting the child's father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who, McLaughlin said, is from Ecuador and in the US illegally. He fled on foot, "abandoning his child", she said.
"For the child's safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias," McLaughlin said, adding that parents are given the choice to be removed with their children or have them placed with a person of their choosing.
Minnesota has become a major focus of federal immigration sweeps. Greg Bovino, a US Customs and Border Protection official who has been the face of the crackdowns, said immigration officers have made about 3,000 arrests in Minnesota in the last six weeks.
Stenvik suggested that the father did not run. She said another adult who lives at the home was outside when the father and son were taken, but agents wouldn't leave Liam with that person.
Mary Granlund, school board chair for Columbia Heights Public Schools, told reporters on Thursday that she had told agents she would take the child before they left with him.
Rachel James, a Columbia Heights city council member who lives nearby the family, said she saw another neighbour from across the street tell the agents they had papers authorising them to take care of Liam on behalf of the parents. The agents ignored them, James said.
The family's lawyer, Marc Prokosch, said on Thursday that he assumes Liam and his father are in a family holding cell but that they have not been able to have "direct contact" with them.
"We're looking at our legal options to see if we can free them either through some legal mechanisms or through moral pressure," he said at a news conference.
Vice President JD Vance met Minneapolis leaders on Thursday and said he heard the "terrible story" but later learned the boy was only detained, not arrested.
"Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?" said Vance, noting that he's the parent of a five-year-old.
Vance wasn't asked about why immigration officers allegedly wouldn't leave the boy with the other adult who lives at the home and offered to take him
Families are reporting that children are malnourished, extremely ill, and suffering profoundly from prolonged detention at the Dilley lockup, where conditions are worse than ever, said Leecia Welch, chief legal counsellor at Children's Rights. Welch visited the facility last week as part of a lawsuit over the welfare of immigrant children in federal custody.
"The number of children had skyrocketed and significant numbers of children had been detained for over 100 days," Welch said. The administration in December acknowledged that about 400 children had faced extended detention.
Columbia Heights Public Schools has five schools and about 3,400 students from pre-K to 12th grade, according to its website. Most come from immigrant families, Stenvik said.
Before Liam, a 17-year-old, was taken on Tuesday while heading to school, and a 10-year-old and a 17-year-old have also been taken, Stenvik said. Attendance has dropped over the past two weeks, including one day where about one-third of the students were out from school, she said.
"Over the last few weeks, ICE agents have been roaming our neighbourhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lot multiple times and taking our kids," said Stenvik, adding that this is causing "trauma".
Ella Sullivan, Liam's teacher, described him as "kind and loving". "His classmates miss him," she said. "And all I want is for him to be safe and back here."