ICE Detains 5-Year-Old Boy and His Father Returning Home from Preschool, then Uses Boy ‘as Bait’ to Find Relatives

A 5-year-old boy and his father were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minnesota after returning home from the child’s preschool.

Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were detained in their driveway in Columbia Heights, according to The Guardian, The Washington Post and local outlet Fox 9, which cited the Columbia Heights Public School District.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which ICE is classified under, told the Post that Liam’s father ran when agents approached and was later apprehended.

After the father was detained, agents allegedly asked Liam to knock on the door of his home to check whether anyone else was inside — a move Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik described as “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” according to the outlets.

Stenvik said, per The Guardian and the Post, that another adult who lives in the home was outside during the incident and “begged” agents to leave Liam with them. She said agents refused and instead transported Liam and his father to a detention center in Texas.

DHS said in a statement on X that the child was not being targeted and described the moments before the arrest differently.

“As agents approached the driver Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot—abandoning his child. For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” DHS said.

DHS added that it is part of ICE policy to ask parents whether they want to be removed with their children, and said that if families are not removed together, children can be left with a safe person designated by a parent.

The Post reported that it was unclear why Liam was not left in the care of the adult who allegedly asked to take responsibility for him.

According to the school district, Liam’s older brother — a middle school student — arrived home about 20 minutes later and found both his father and little brother gone.

The family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch, told The Guardian that Liam and his father are not U.S. citizens but have been seeking asylum and have an active case. He said they entered the U.S. through an official point of entry.

“The family did everything they were supposed to in accordance with how the rules have been set out,” he said, per The Guardian. “They did not come here illegally. They are not criminals.”

Prokosch also told the Post that the family “have been following the legal process perfectly, from presenting themselves at the border to applying for asylum and waiting for the process to go through.”

Stenvik echoed that position in a statement carried by the Post, Guardian and Fox 9, saying the family has “an active asylum case with no order of deportation,” adding, “I have viewed the legal paperwork with my own eyes.”

“Why detain a 5-year-old? You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal,” she added.

Columbia Heights Public School District and Prokosch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The incident comes amid other recent detentions involving students in the same district. Three other students in Columbia Heights — including a 17-year-old and a 10-year-old — were detained by ICE this month, according to the school district, per the outlets.

Stenvik said, per the Post and The Guardian, that the 17-year-old was removed from their car by “armed and masked agents” believed to be ICE and detained without parents present.

Earlier, a 10-year-old student was allegedly detained with her mother while they were on their way to the child’s elementary school, Stenvik said, per the outlets. The child reportedly called her father and told him the agents would take her to school — but when he arrived, he learned both the child and mother had been taken.