A Minnesota public school says a 5-year-old boy was “taken” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday, a contention that the Department of Homeland Security refutes, saying he was abandoned by his father.
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, and his father were approached by masked officers in their driveway after the boy came home from preschool, according to the school. The father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, ran from the officers but was quickly detained.
Soon after the two were taken, “the middle school brother came home to a missing dad, a missing little brother, and a terrified mother,” the school said in a statement.
Columbia Heights Public School District Superintendent Zena Stenvik quickly condemned ICE’s actions, saying the agents used the child as bait.
“Another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let him take care of the small child and was refused,” Ms. Stenvik told Minnesota Public Radio. “Instead, the agent took the child out of the still-running car, led him to the door and directed him to knock on the door asking to be let in in order to see if anyone else was home, essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.”
“Why detain a 5-year-old?” she asked Wednesday. “You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
Democrats immediately responded to media reports of the preschooler being “taken” by immigration agents.
“Minnesotans want safety. They want freedom. They want what’s best for our kids. Masked agents snatching preschoolers off the street and sending them to Texas detention centers serves none of those purposes,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said. “This campaign of retribution has got to stop.”
Responding to Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat, blasting the agency, DHS said officers “did NOT target a child.”
“As agents approached the driver, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias fled on foot — abandoning his child,” the agency said in a statement. “For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.”
ICE flipped the narrative on Democrats, telling Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, “You’re lying for clicks yet again.”
“The child was ABANDONED by his father, a criminal illegal alien from Ecuador, who fled from our officers. Our officers ensured the child was SAFE,” another post read.
The family has a pending asylum case but no order of deportation directing that they be removed from the U.S., officials from the boy’s school said.
DHS policy stipulates that parents can choose to be removed with their children, or ICE will place children in the custody of a safe person designated by the parent.
Officers are believed to have taken the father and son to a detention facility in Texas.
The school district said the preschooler is one of four Columbia Heights students to be detained by ICE within the past month.
Officers detained a 17-year-old high school student driving to school on Tuesday, with no parents present, and another was detained alongside her mother last week after ICE officers “pushed their way into an apartment,” the school district said.
It also said the agency detained a 10-year-old fourth-grader and her mother.
Ms. Stenvik said an ICE vehicle drove onto school property Tuesday and approached the high school loading dock, prompting school administration to ask those in the vehicle to leave.
“ICE agents have been roaming our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lots and taking our children,” she said. “The sense of safety in our community and around our schools is shaken, and our hearts are shattered.”
