ICE Accused of Using 5-Year-Old as ‘Bait’

A Minnesota school superintendent says federal immigration agents went beyond detaining a family member and involved a 5-year-old child in their operation.

Columbia Heights Superintendent Zena Stenvik said masked federal agents stopped kindergartener Liam Conejo Ramos in his driveway Tuesday as he arrived home from school with his father, according to MPR News. Stenvik said another adult who lives in the home pleaded with agents to take custody of the child, but was denied. Instead, agents instructed Liam to walk to the front door and knock so they could see who else was inside the home, a move Stenvik described as “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.”

Liam and his father were taken into custody and are now being held at a detention facility in Texas, according to the family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch. Stenvik said the family has an active asylum case and no deportation order. Prokosch said he is considering filing a habeas corpus petition and questioned the agents’ conduct, even if it falls within the law. “Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s moral,” he said. “They may have the authority to detain a 5-year-old, but why would they choose to?”

Liam’s teacher, Ella Sullivan, described him as a bright and compassionate student whose classmates miss him. “All I want is for him to be safe and back here,” she said.

The Department of Homeland Security disputed the superintendent’s account. Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not target a child, stating that Liam’s father, an Ecuadorian national, fled on foot and left the boy behind. McLaughlin said agents attempted to place Liam with his mother, but claimed she refused to take custody. Her version of events conflicts with statements from school officials.

Vice President JD Vance defended the agents’ actions during a visit to Minneapolis on Thursday, according to the New York Times. “What are they supposed to do?” Vance said. “Let a 5-year-old freeze to death? Not arrest someone who is in the country illegally?”

District officials say Liam is one of four Columbia Heights students detained by immigration agents in separate incidents over the past two weeks. Those cases include a 10-year-old taken with her mother while heading to school and a 17-year-old detained after agents entered an apartment. Stenvik said agents have been monitoring schools, following buses, and entering school property, contributing to widespread fear. She said nearly one-third of students in the district have stayed home as a result. Other Twin Cities districts report absentee rates reaching 40% and say they are expanding virtual learning options.

In a post on X, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called on the federal government to halt what he described as a “campaign of retribution.” “Minnesotans want safety. They want freedom. They want what’s best for our kids,” Walz wrote. “Masked agents taking preschoolers off the street and sending them to detention centers in Texas accomplishes none of that.”

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