A 5-year-old boy, taken by federal agents from his Minneapolis backyard shortly after returning from preschool, is currently being held with his father at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas, according to sources familiar with the case.
The child, Liam Conejo Ramos, was removed from the family's car while it was still at work, said Columbia Heights School District Superintendent Zena Stenvik. Another adult in the home pleaded with agents to leave the child in their care, but the request was denied, she said.
At a press conference, Stenvik accused the agents of using the child as a tool to check if there were other people in the apartment, instructing her to knock on the door — an action she described as deeply disturbing.
On the other hand, ICE publicly denied the accusations that it “used a child as bait,” claiming that the child had been “abandoned.” Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security stated that the target of the operation was the child’s father, an Ecuadorian citizen, who, according to authorities, had attempted to flee, leaving his son behind.
The family's attorney, Mark Prokosch, said the family had followed all legal procedures and had filed for asylum in December 2024. According to him, the process is now underway with the family separated, while the father and son are being held at the South Texas Residence Family Center in Dilley — a facility designed for families, where children of various ages are also held.
Liam Conejo Ramos' case is not isolated. School officials report that at least three other students in the Columbia Heights area have been detained by ICE recently, including a 17-year-old who was picked up by armed, masked agents on his way to school.
The event is part of a broader campaign of mass deportations in the US, accompanied by aggressive tactics, detentions of American citizens and clashes with local communities, who are increasingly reacting to immigration operations.
