Saturday, January 24, 2026-Federal immigration agents detained a 5-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, along with his father in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, as they arrived home from preschool. School officials said agents directed the child to knock on his front door to see if anyone else was inside an action the district described as using the boy as bait during the operation.
Witnesses reported that adults at the scene offered to care for Liam, but agents refused before transporting both father and son to a detention facility in Texas.
Local officials, including Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik, condemned the incident as traumatizing for students and families, noting it has heightened fear and reduced school attendance in the district. The family’s lawyer said they have an active asylum case and had entered the U.S. legally, with no deportation order in place at the time of the detention.
Federal authorities, including Department of Homeland Security and ICE officials, asserted that the child was not the target of the enforcement action. They said officers were conducting a targeted arrest of the boy’s father and that one agent stayed with the child for his safety during the operation. Vice President JD Vance defended the action, framing it as necessary enforcement of immigration laws while acknowledging the emotional impact.
The incident has intensified scrutiny of U.S. immigration enforcement practices and raised concerns over how children are handled during such operations.
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