ICE Detains Four Minneapolis Minors, Including A 5-Year-Old Boy They Used As "Bait"

"In a press conference on Wednesday, Columbia Heights superintendent Zena Stevnik told reporters masked agents "apprehended" Liam in his driveway Tuesday as he arrived home from preschool pickup with his father. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said "ICE did NOT target a child," and that agents were trying to arrest Liam's father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who was "in the country illegally." As agents approached the father and son in their driveway, Conejo Arias fled the scene, McLaughlin said."

""Another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let him take care of the small child, and was refused," Stenvik said of what happened next. "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.""

Immigration enforcement intensified in major cities, increasing detentions, deportations, and family separations. Nearly 75,000 people currently face detainment and deportation, while 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025. ICE agents in Minneapolis detained four minor students from the Columbia Heights Public School district, including 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos. Agents removed the child from a running car, led him to a door to knock, and detained him along with his father. Family members were unaware of their whereabouts for 24 hours until the father contacted the family from a Texas detention center.

Read at Scary Mommy