ICE Detains Five-Year-Old Boy in Minnesota, Allegedly Using Him as ‘Bait,’ Sparking Outrage from Democrats

Key Points:

According to a report by the American Immigration Council, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had detained a record number of 66,000 immigrants by the end of December 2025.

On January 20, 2026, ICE detained a five-year-old boy who was returning home from his preschool in Minnesota, USA. Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos is among four minors who have been detained by federal agents in recent times. The other minors were reportedly aged 17 and 10 years.

See Also: ‘We Are Not Afraid’: Nationwide Protests Against ICE Killing of Renee Good, Fascist Trump

Earlier this week, ICE agents attempted to approach the five-year-old and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias. The Department of Homeland Security, in a post on X, denied claims that ICE officials had arrested the young boy.

According to a report by news agency AP, Zena Stenvik, Superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, said that the child was taken from his driveway by federal agents. She reportedly added that the five-year-old was asked to knock on the door of his house to check whether someone was inside.

She said that the five-year-old was effectively used as bait to lure his family out. Stenvik added that Liam’s family arrived in the United States in 2024 and has an active asylum case, which allows the family to remain in the country for the time being. Netizens and several political leaders have reacted strongly to Liam’s detention, making him the youngest known detainee.

Homeland Security has not mentioned any active criminal record of Liam’s father, who had entered the country illegally from Ecuador, a South American nation, to seek asylum. Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin took to X to clarify that the child was neither targeted by ICE nor used as any kind of bait.

She further added that the child’s parents abandoned the boy by fleeing and leaving the five-year-old on his own. McLaughlin also stated that Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias was later apprehended following the operation.

See Also: ‘My US Citizenship Did Not Protect Me’: Community Hearing Details ICE Horrors in Minneapolis

Why was five year old Liam abandoned?

Reacting to the ICE operation, former Vice President Kamala Harris from the Biden administration wrote on her X handle, “Liam Ramos is just a baby. He should be at home with his family, not used as bait by ICE and held in a Texas detention center. I am outraged, and you should be too.”

McLaughlin explained that the ICE operation was conducted primarily to apprehend Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, whom she referred to as an “illegal alien” who was “RELEASED into the US by the Biden Administration.” She wrote that one of the ICE agents remained with the young boy after his father fled the scene to ensure the child’s safety.

“The alleged mother refused to accept custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him,” wrote McLaughlin. There were also reports of agitators swarming the scene, which reportedly scared the five-year-old. Marc Prokosch, the family’s lawyer, stated that Liam and his father have been taken to an immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

ICE’s crackdown during the Trump administration has faced fierce backlash recently after the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. The administration has strongly defended the actions of federal agents by justifying Ms. Good’s death as an act of self-defense. U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Good was “very very disrespectful to law enforcement.” 

The Trump-led government had recently ended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of Somali immigrants residing in Minnesota, USA. TPS ensured temporary protection from deportation for people of Somali origin because their country was considered unsafe. According to data from the Minnesota Compass, around half a million immigrants (approximately 470,387) reside in Minnesota, with 6,703 people of Ecuadorian origin.

Suggested Reading: