ICE detains a 5-year-old boy from Minnesota: He was used as “bait” to search his home
Zena Stenvik, superintendent of Columbia Heights, told reporters that ICE detained the boy and his father at the entrance to their home.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a five-year-old boy in Minnesota, according to Zena Stenvik, superintendent of Columbia Heights. The Columbia Heights Public School District also reported that federal agents have detained four of its students in separate incidents in recent weeks.
Speaking at a press conference, Stenvik said that last Tuesday ICE agents detained five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos at the entrance to his home as he was returning from school with his father. She added that agents refused to allow another adult who lived in the house to care for the child.
Stenvik recounted that one officer removed the boy from the still-running car and led him to the front door, instructing him to knock and ask to be let in to see whether anyone else was home. “Basically using a five-year-old as bait,” she said, according to statements obtained by MPR News.
In Minneapolis, ICE arrested a 5-year-old coming home from preschool and tried to use him as human bait.
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) January 22, 2026
His teacher describes him as “a bright young student.”
These monsters are sick. pic.twitter.com/JSfjQsvoP8
Reports later indicated that agents took both the father and the child away in a vehicle and sent them to Texas. The Washington Post reported that Liam and his father are now in San Antonio in the custody of Homeland Security authorities. The family’s lawyer told the newspaper that although they are not US citizens, they have an active asylum application.
Following the reports, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the child was not detained, but that ICE agents remained with him because he had been “abandoned”.
“On January 20, ICE conducted an operation targeting Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who was released into the United States by the Biden administration. When agents approached the driver, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias fled on foot, abandoning his son. For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” the agency said in a post on X.
“Lies like these discredit the work of our brave men and women at DHS, who enforce federal immigration laws,” ICE added in a separate post on the platform.
ICE did NOT target a child. The child was ABANDONED.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 22, 2026
On January 20, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias an illegal alien from Ecuador who was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration.
As agents approached the driver Adrian… https://t.co/O7o2dVGHqZ
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DHS also said that parents are asked whether they wish to be deported with their children or want ICE to release them to a designated caregiver. However, it remains unclear why agents did not release the child to the adult who claimed him during the incident.
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