Federal agents reportedly took a 5-year-old boy arriving home from preschool in Minnesota into custody, according to the Associated Press. Images from the scene have sent the internet into a frenzy with anger against ICE and its presence in the city. Agents allegedly used Liam Conejo Ramos to bait his father into capture, making him the fourth student from his Minneapolis suburb that immigration officers have detained in recent weeks.
Federal agents transported Liam Conejo Ramos and his father to a detention facility in Texas, per school officials and the family’s lawyer. The agents reportedly took the five-year-old from a running car while it was in the family’s driveway on Tuesday afternoon. So said Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik during a news conference on Wednesday. The officers then allegedly told Liam to knock on his home’s door to see if anyone else was inside.
“…essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” Stenvik 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.”
Liam and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, are in a family holding cell in Texas, Marc Prokosch, the family’s lawyer, said during the news conference.
“Every step of their immigration process has been doing what they’ve been asked to do,” Prokosch said of the family’s asylum claim. “So this is just cruelty.”
Ella Sullivan, Liam’s teacher, described him as “kind and loving.” “His classmates miss him,” she said. “And all I want is for him to be safe and back here.”
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, Adrian. McLaughlin said the dad is from Ecuador and in the U.S. illegally. He fled on foot, “abandoning his child,” she said.
“For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” Tricia McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said the parents are given the choice to be removed with their children or have them placed with a person of their choosing. Superintendent Stenvik said another adult who lives at the home was outside when agents took the father and son, but agents wouldn’t leave Liam with that person. DHS didn’t immediately respond to an email Thursday asking if Conejo Arias had asked to keep his son with him.by
Minnesota has become a major focus of immigration sweeps by DHS-led agencies. Greg Bovino is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who has been the face of the crackdowns in Minneapolis and other cities. He claims 3,000 “of some of the most dangerous offenders” have been arrested in Minnesota in the last six weeks.’ Julia Decker is a policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. Decker says advocates have no way of knowing whether the government’s arrest numbers and descriptions of the people in custody are accurate.
Liam is the fourth student from Columbia Heights Public Schools to be detained by ICE in recent weeks, said Stenvik. A 17-year-old student was taken Tuesday while heading to school. A 10-year-old and a 17-year-old have also been taken, she said.
The district comprises five schools and about 3,400 students from pre-K through 12th grade, according to its website. The majority of the students come from immigrant families, according to Stenvik.
She said they’ve noticed their attendance drop over the past two weeks, including one day when they had about one-third of their students out from school.
Associated Press reporters Hallie Golden and Kathy McCormack contributed to this story.
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