ICE Sends Minnesota Man and His Toddler, 2, to Texas Detention Center Against Judge’s Orders: Report

A father and his 2-year-old daughter were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in south Minneapolis on Thursday, Jan. 22, and taken to a Texas detention center within hours.

Elvis Joel Tipan-Echeverria and his daughter, Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis — both Ecuadorian immigrants — were driving home from a grocery store when ICE stopped them, Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez said on Instagram on Jan. 22.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed Tipan-Echeverria and a child were taken into custody, according to NBC News. DHS has not publicly identified the child.

Chavez alleged the stop escalated quickly.

“A suspicious vehicle followed her father’s vehicle home, broke his window and kidnapped them,” Chavez claimed. “No judicial warrant was provided.”

DHS said the two were detained at 1 p.m. during a “targeted enforcement operation,” ABC 5 reports. The agency alleged Tipan-Echeverria had illegally “committed felony reentry” into the U.S. after being previously removed, per NBC News.

The family’s attorney, Kira Kelley, said both Tipan-Echeverria and Tipan Villacis have active asylum claims and that neither has a final order of removal. Kelley also alleged the agents did not present a warrant.

DHS, however, claimed Tipan-Echeverria was “driving erratically with a child in the vehicle,” and that after he parked, “he refused multiple lawful commands to open his door or lower his window.” DHS said Tipan-Echeverria was then taken into custody.

The situation drew a large crowd, according to DHS. The agency alleged that around 120 people surrounded agents and threw rocks and garbage cans, prompting crowd-control measures, according to The Star Tribune.

DHS also said its officers cared for the child because “the mother would not take” her. Kelley disputed that account, saying agents allegedly refused to let Tipan-Echeverria bring Tipan Villacis to her mother.

The child’s mother and other relatives remained inside the home because they were “terrified” of the agents, an affidavit alleged, according to ABC 5.

Following the detention, Kelley filed an emergency petition around 5:37 p.m. seeking their release, ABC 5 reports. Around 6:30 p.m., she filed another motion asking a judge to block the toddler’s transfer outside Minnesota and to order her release.

Kelley said she attempted to contact ICE counsel but did not receive a response. Less than two hours later, at about 8:10 p.m., U.S. District Judge Kathy Menendez ordered ICE not to remove the pair from Minnesota and directed that the toddler be returned to Kelley no later than 9:30 p.m., according to the affidavit cited by ABC 5.

But at 8:30 p.m., ICE informed the court that the father and child had been placed on a commercial flight to Texas. A government attorney said ICE would return the girl to Minnesota on Friday, Jan. 23.

“To me, that is clearly part of this effort to try to evade the court’s jurisdiction,” the family’s attorney Irina Vaynerman told The Star Tribune. “We have never seen this level of depravity with a 2-year-old.”

As of Friday evening, Tipan-Echeverria was still listed as being held at an ICE detention facility, but information about his daughter did not appear in the ICE Detainee Locator System because she is under 18.

Vaynerman said the girl was reunited with her mother on Jan. 23, The Star Tribune reported.

The detainment came days after ICE agents detained 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, in their driveway after they returned home from the child’s preschool on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

The incidents also unfolded amid DHS denials that the agency separates families.

A GoFundMe page was created to help the family with unexpected bills.