Federal officers detain a 5-year-old boy who a school official says was
used as 'bait'
[January 23, 2026]
By HALLIE GOLDEN and SARAH RAZA
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A 5-year-old boy arriving home from preschool in
Minnesota was taken by federal agents along with his father to a
detention facility in Texas, school officials and the family's lawyer
said, making him the fourth student from his Minneapolis suburb to be
detained by immigration officers in recent weeks.
Federal agents took Liam Conejo Ramos from a running car in the family's
driveway Tuesday afternoon, Columbia Heights Public Schools
Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters Wednesday. The officers told
him to knock on the door to his home to see if other people were inside,
“essentially using a 5-year-old as bait," she said.
The father told the child's mother, who was inside the home and has not
been named, not to open the door, Stenvik told reporters Thursday.
School officials said the agents wouldn’t leave Liam with another adult
who lives at the home or an official from the school district. But on
Thursday, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin
said in an online post that the father asked for the child to stay with
him and that they are together at an immigration lockup in Dilley,
Texas.
The family, who came to the U.S. in 2024, has an active asylum case and
had not been ordered to leave the country, Stenvik said.
“Why detain a 5-year-old?” she asked. "You cannot tell me that this
child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday that “ICE did NOT target a
child.” She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement was arresting the
child’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who McLaughlin said is
from Ecuador and in the U.S. illegally. He fled on foot, “abandoning his
child,” she said.
“For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child
while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” McLaughlin said,
adding that parents are given the choice to be removed with their
children or have them placed with a person of their choosing.
Minnesota has become a major focus of federal immigration sweeps. Greg
Bovino, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who has been the
face of the crackdowns, said immigration officers have made about 3,000
arrests in Minnesota in the last six weeks.
Others offered to take the child
Stenvik suggested that the father did not run. She said another adult
who lives at the home was outside when the father and son were taken,
but agents wouldn't leave Liam with that person.
Mary Granlund, school board chair for Columbia Heights Public Schools,
told reporters Thursday that she had told agents she would take the
child before they left with him.
Rachel James, a Columbia Heights city council member who lives nearby
the family, said she saw another neighbor from across the street tell
the agents they had papers authorizing them to take care of Liam on
behalf of the parents. The agents ignored them, James said.
The family's lawyer, Marc Prokosch, said Thursday that he assumes Liam
and his father are in a family holding cell but that they have not been
able to have "direct contact" with them.
“We’re looking at our legal options to see if we can free them either
through some legal mechanisms or through moral pressure," he said at a
news conference.
Vice President JD Vance met with Minneapolis leaders Thursday and said
he heard the “terrible story” but later learned the boy was only
detained, not arrested.
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Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, is detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers after arriving home from preschool, Tuesday,
Jan. 20, 2026, in a Minneapolis suburb. (Ali Daniels via AP)
“Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a
5-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an
illegal alien in the United States of America?” said Vance, noting
that he's the parent of a 5-year-old.
Vance wasn’t asked about why immigration officers allegedly wouldn’t
leave the boy with the other adult who lives at the home and offered
to take him.
Conditions at the Dilley lockup
Families are reporting that children are malnourished, extremely
ill, and suffering profoundly from prolonged detention at the Dilley
lockup, where conditions are worse than ever, said Leecia Welch,
chief legal counselor at Children’s Rights. Welch visited the
facility last week as part of a lawsuit over the welfare of
immigrant children in federal custody.
“The number of children had skyrocketed and significant numbers of
children had been detained for over 100 days,” Welch said. The
administration in December acknowledged that about 400 children had
faced extended detention.
“Nearly every child we spoke to was sick,” Welch said.
Students kept home after their classmates were detained
Columbia Heights Public Schools has five schools and about 3,400
students from pre-K to 12th grade, according to its website. Most
come from immigrant families, Stenvik said.
Before Liam, A 17-year-old was taken Tuesday while heading to
school, and a 10-year-old and a 17-year-old have also been taken,
Stenvik said. Attendance has dropped over the past two weeks,
including one day where about one-third of the students were out
from school, she said.
“Over the last few weeks, ICE agents have been roaming our
neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming
into our parking lot multiple times and taking our kids,” said
Stenvik, adding that this is causing “trauma.”
Ella Sullivan, Liam’s teacher, described him as “kind and loving.”
“His classmates miss him,” she said. "And all I want is for him to
be safe and back here.”
___
Golden reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporters Valerie
Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New
Hampshire, and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this story.
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