ICE agents detain boy, 5, in Minnesota, school admin claims he was used as bait
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, came from preschool and was detained by masked ICE agents outside of his home. His school claimed the child was used as bait to lure his mother out, who was asked by her husband to stay inside, potentially to avoid detention herself.

A five-year-old Ecuadorean boy, who had just returned home from preschool, was detained by ICE agents in Minnesota as US President Donald Trump-led administration's fierce crackdown on immigrants continues. Liam Conejo Ramos is among four minors, including two 17-year-olds and a 10-year-old to have been detained, Zena Stenvik, superintendent of the Columbia Heights Public School District, said.
Marc Prokosch, the attorney representing the Ramos family, said that the child and his father – both present in the US legally as asylum applicants – were taken to a family detention facility in Dilly, Texas.
Visuals that have flooded social media since the detention of Liam showed heavily armed federal officers grabbing the five-year-old, who wore a blue hat and a Spider-Man backpack, and looked visibly scared. He watched as masked ICE agents took his father from the driveway of their home after they both returned home from preschool on Tuesday, witnesses told news agency Reuters.
They further said that the agents then attempted to use the child as bait to lure his mother out of their home. Mary Granlund, the chair of the Columbia Heights school board, told reporters that Liam's father told his wife to remain inside, potentially to avoid detention herself. She added that school officials, an adult from the Ramos family home and all of their neighbours offered to take the child, but ICE officials refused.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), however, dismissed the fact that ICE agents targeted the child. In a statement, spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Liam's father ran on foot and abandoned his son while being detained by the immigration agents. "For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias," she said, adding that Liam's father insisted his son stay with him and that they are together at the detention lockup in Texas.
Vice President JD Vance reiterated the DHS statement, blaming the child's father for "running" and abandoning his son. "What are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien," he told a press conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to show support for the ICE agents.
"Why detain a 5-year-old? You cannot tell me this child is a violent criminal," Zena Stenvik asked. "ICE agents have been roaming our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lots multiple times and taking our kids," she added.
She added that the Ramos family came to America in 2024 and has an active asylum case, but has not been ordered to leave the country.
The incident has led to renewed backlash against the ICE crackdown in America, with Minnesota remaining a big focal point. Former Vice President Kamala Harris minced no words in blasting the Trump administration for its actions. Taking to X, she said Liam was just a baby. "Liam Ramos is just a baby. He should be at home with his family, not used as bait by ICE and held in a Texas detention center. I am outraged, and you should be too," she wrote on the microblogging platform.

