US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials detained a five-year-old boy returning from preschool in Minnesota after allegedly using him "as bait" to facilitate the arrest of his father who has a pending asylum application.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, stated that federal agents took the child, Liam Conejo Ramos, from a car that had just been parked in the family’s driveway on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Stenvik, the child was "essentially used as bait" by the officers, as they instructed him to knock on the door of his home to determine if anyone was inside. Stenvik also stated that the family who immigrated to the USA in 2024 had an active asylum application and were not ordered to leave the country.
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"Why detain a five-year-old?" she asked. "You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal."
Statement by ICE
Meanwhile, Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson of the department of Homeland Security stated that "ICE did NOT target a child".
McLaughlin said that as a precaution for safety, one officer continued to supervise the child as the other officers attempted to arrest Conejo Arias. According to McLaughlin, when parents are taken into custody along with their children by ICE, they have the option of being placed in custody together or having the child placed in the care of a designated caregiver.
Stenvik said that Liam is the fourth student from Columbia Heights Public Schools to have been taken by ICE lately. On Tuesday morning, ICE detained a 17-year-old Columbia Heights Public Schools student who was on his way to school. Additionally, ICE has also taken a 10-year-old and another 17-year-old in the past few weeks.
Family's attorney says...
Marc Prokosch, attorney for the family, stated that Liam and his father were taken to a Texas facility in Dilley believes they are being held in a family detention cell.
At a press conference, he stated, "We are exploring all avenues available to us legally, as well as through moral coercion, to attempt to get them released."
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According to a report by Reuters, Prokosch denied that Liam's father was in the US illegally and said Minnesota records did not show any criminal history for the family. They were awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge, he said.
An attorney who visited the facility in Dilley last Friday as a part of a continuing lawsuit to ensure the safety of children in immigration custody stated that the current state of affairs for using these facilities to hold immigrant children is deteriorating.
"Conditions are worse than they have ever been," Leecia Welch, Chief Legal Counsel of the Children's Rights advocacy group, was quoted as saying by Aljazeera.
"The number of children had skyrocketed, and significant numbers of children had been detained for over 100 days," Welch said and highlighted that almost every child they spoke to was sick.
"It seemed there was an epidemic of illnesses going around. Families reported that their children were malnourished, extremely ill and suffering profoundly from prolonged detention," Welch added.
On Thursday, during his visit to Minneapolis, Vice President JD Vance shared that he had heard the "horrible story" about Liam. He went on to say he wasn't sure if there was anything different the federal agents could have done.
"You know, what are they supposed to do? Let a five-year-old kid die of hypothermia? Are they not supposed to enforce the laws by arresting a person who is in this country illegally?" stated Vance, who himself has a five-year-old child.
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Crackdown by ICE
The arrests are part of a series of actions implemented by US President Donald Trump under the Immigration enforcement programme. Approximately 3,000 federal law enforcement officers have been deployed to an area near Minneapolis, Minnesota, where there have been public concerns since the shooting death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old citizen, and mother of three by an immigration officer on January 7.
