A five-year-old boy returning home from preschool in Minnesota was taken into custody by federal immigration agents along with his father and transferred to a detention centre in Texas, according to school officials and the family’s lawyer.
The incident marks the fourth case in recent weeks involving a student from the Minneapolis suburb being detained by immigration authorities.
The child, identified as Liam Conejo Ramos, was removed from a running vehicle in the driveway of his family’s home on Tuesday afternoon, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters on Wednesday. She said officers instructed the child to knock on the front door of the house to check if anyone else was inside, describing the act as “essentially using a five-year-old as bait.”
Stenvik said the boy’s father told the child’s mother who was inside the home and has not been publicly identified, not to open the door. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Stenvik added that immigration agents refused to leave Liam with another adult residing at the home or with a representative from the school district.
However, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an online post on Thursday that the father requested that the child remain with him. She stated that both are currently being held together at an immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas.
According to school officials, the family arrived in the United States in 2024 and has an active asylum case. Stenvik said the family had not been ordered to leave the country.
“Why detain a five-year-old?” Stenvik asked. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
McLaughlin said in a statement issued Wednesday that “ICE did NOT target a child.” She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were attempting to arrest the boy’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, whom she identified as an Ecuadorian national living in the United States illegally. She claimed Conejo Arias fled on foot during the operation, “abandoning his child.”
“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 option to be removed from the country with their children or to have them placed with someone of their choosing.
Minnesota has emerged as a key focus of recent federal immigration enforcement actions. Greg Bovino, a senior US Customs and Border Protection official who has been publicly associated with the crackdown, said immigration authorities have carried out approximately 3,000 arrests in the state over the past six weeks.
School officials and local leaders disputed claims that there were no alternatives available for Liam’s care at the time of his detention.
Stenvik said another adult who lives at the home was present outside when the father and child were taken, but agents declined to leave Liam with that individual.
Mary Granlund, chair of the Columbia Heights Public Schools board, told reporters on Thursday that she personally offered to take custody of the child before agents departed with him.
Rachel James, a Columbia Heights city council member who lives near the family, said she witnessed a neighbor from across the street present documents authorising them to care for Liam on behalf of his parents. According to James, agents ignored the offer.
The family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch, said on Thursday that he believes Liam and his father are being held together in a family detention cell but noted that legal representatives have not been able to establish “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,” Prokosch said during a news conference.
US Vice President JD Vance met with Minneapolis leaders on Thursday and said he had heard what he described as a “terrible story,” though he later said he was informed that the child had been detained rather than formally 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?” Vance said, noting that he is the parent of a five-year-old child.
Vance was not asked why immigration officers allegedly refused to leave the child with another adult who lives at the home and had offered to take responsibility for him.