In brief
In a controversial immigration enforcement action, a 5-year-old boy named Liam Conejo Ramos was detained alongside his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, by federal agents in Minnesota on Tuesday. The incident, which involved using the child to locate his father, has drawn criticism from school officials and advocates, who argue that the family was following the proper asylum process. As Minnesota sees a rise in immigration enforcement, the community is expressing deep concern for the safety and well-being of its immigrant families.
A 5-year-old boy arriving home from preschool in Minnesota was taken by federal agents along with his father to a detention facility in Texas, school officials and the family’s lawyer said, making him the latest child caught up in the immigration enforcement surge that has riled the Twin Cities in recent weeks.
Federal agents took Liam Conejo Ramos from a running car while it was in the family’s driveway on Tuesday afternoon, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said during a news conference Wednesday. The officers then told him to knock on the door to his suburban Minneapolis home to see if other people were inside, “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” she said.
Stenvik said the family has an active asylum case and has not been ordered to leave the country.
“Why detain a 5-year-old?” she asked. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that “ICE did NOT target a child.”
She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement was conducting an operation to arrest the child’s father, who McLaughlin said is from Ecuador and in the U.S. illegally. He fled on foot without the boy, 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.
Stenvik stated that 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.
Liam and his father were being held in a family holding cell in Texas, the family’s lawyer said. “Every step of their immigration process has been doing what they’ve been asked to do,” he stated, calling the detention “just cruelty.”
Minnesota has become a major focus of immigration sweeps by DHS-led agencies. A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official noted that 3,000 “of some of the most dangerous offenders” have been arrested in Minnesota in the last six weeks.
Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, expressed concerns about the accuracy of the government’s arrest numbers. Liam is the fourth student from Columbia Heights Public Schools to be detained by ICE in recent weeks.
“His classmates miss him,” said Liam’s teacher who described him as “kind and loving.” She added, “All I want is for him to be safe and back here.”
