A Minnesota community is grappling with anger and distress after federal immigration officers detained a 5-year-old boy alongside his father during an enforcement action, an incident school officials say has deeply shaken students and families in the area.
The child, identified by school officials as Liam Conejo Ramos, was taken Tuesday afternoon from his family’s driveway in Columbia Heights, a suburb north of Minneapolis, shortly after returning home from preschool. According to district leaders, federal officers asked the boy to knock on his front door to determine whether other adults were inside the home—an action the school superintendent described as using the child as “bait.”
Liam and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, are now being held together at an immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas, according to the Department of Homeland Security. School officials and the family’s attorney say the family entered the United States in 2024 and has an active asylum case, with no prior order of removal.
Conflicting accounts of the detention
Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said officers refused requests to leave the child with another adult living in the home or with school district officials who offered to take custody of him temporarily. Community members and local officials echoed those claims, saying neighbors and even a school board chair volunteered to care for the boy but were turned away.
Federal authorities dispute that characterization. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement was targeting the father, not the child, and claimed the father fled briefly, leaving the boy behind. She said officers stayed with the child for safety reasons and that parents are given the option to remain with their children during detention or arrange alternative care.
Stenvik questioned that account, saying witnesses did not observe the father running and stressing that the presence of a young child should have prompted a different response. “Why detain a 5-year-old?” she asked. “This child poses no threat to anyone.”
Detention conditions raise concerns
The case has drawn renewed attention to conditions at the Dilley facility, one of the largest family immigration detention centers in the country. Advocates say children there are experiencing prolonged confinement, illness, and inadequate nutrition.
Leecia Welch, chief legal counsel at the advocacy group Children’s Rights, said recent visits revealed a surge in detained children, many held for more than three months. “Nearly every child we spoke to was sick,” she said, adding that the federal government has acknowledged hundreds of children have faced extended detention.
Liam’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, said the family has not yet been able to communicate directly with the child or his father. He said legal options are being explored to secure their release.
Political reaction and local impact
Vice President JD Vance addressed the incident during a visit to Minnesota, calling it a “terrible story” but emphasizing that officers were enforcing immigration law. He said the child was detained, not arrested, and questioned what alternatives officers would have had during the operation.
Local officials counter that the situation reflects broader problems with how immigration enforcement is being carried out in the area. Minnesota has become a focal point for federal immigration actions in recent weeks, with authorities reporting roughly 3,000 arrests statewide over a six-week period.
The impact is being felt acutely in Columbia Heights schools, where most students come from immigrant families. District leaders say attendance has dropped sharply as parents keep children home out of fear. In the past two weeks, three other students—ranging in age from 10 to 17—have also been detained by immigration officers, according to the district.
Teachers describe a climate of anxiety in classrooms. Liam’s preschool teacher said students are asking where their classmate is and expressing concern for his safety.
“All we want,” she said, “is for him to be safe and to come back to school.”
