Federal agents detain 5-year-old and father in Minnesota, school officials say child was used as bait

Federal immigration agents detain a 5-year-old child and his father in the driveway of their Columbia Heights home, school officials say, an episode that has deepened local alarm about enforcement tactics and the toll on children and school communities.

Columbia Heights Public Schools officials say preschooler Liam Conejo Ramos was returning from class when agents approached his father, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias. Superintendent Zena Stenvik and district statements describe an agent removing the child from a running vehicle, leading him to the family’s front door and, in the district’s words, “directed him to knock, asking to be let in to see if anyone else was home, essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.”

Photographs provided by the district show the boy, his face blurred, wearing a blue bunny-shaped winter hat and carrying a backpack while an officer holds the pack. School staff say the family has an active asylum case and no deportation order; the district and the family’s attorney said both the child and his father were taken into government custody and are likely being held in a family holding cell in Texas, according to their lawyer Marc Prokosch.

DHS and ICE issued a contrasting statement through spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, saying, “ICE did NOT target a child.” Agency statements describe the operation as targeted toward the father and assert he “fled on foot, abandoning his child,” language the department also characterized elsewhere by referring to the man as an “illegal alien.”

The incident comes amid a recent string of enforcement encounters in the district. Stenvik told reporters that within two weeks agents had detained a 10-year-old who was on her way to school with her mother and also removed two 17-year-old students, one, she said, taken from a car by “armed, masked agents” when no parents were present. Teachers described the preschooler as a bright presence in the classroom; one educator said the child “brightens the room.”

Public health experts and child advocates warn that direct involvement of young children in enforcement operations can cause immediate and lasting harm. Separation and frightening encounters with armed officials are linked to elevated stress, anxiety and disruptions to learning. School leaders say the episode left a mother and a sibling at home terrified and school staff scrambling to reassure students and families.

The arrest has widened political and civic debate in the Twin Cities, where federal enforcement has been contested amid recent litigation and protests. State leaders have criticized the detention; Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said on social media, “this campaign of retribution has got to stop.” The episode also coincides with heightened federal attention in the region, including a planned visit by Vice President JD Vance.

Beyond the immediate distress for one family, advocates say the incident illustrates broader equity and policy questions: how immigration enforcement balances public safety and humanitarian protections, how courts and agencies limit tactics in communities, and how schools and health systems should respond to trauma. Columbia Heights officials have called for greater transparency and for enforcement practices that avoid placing children at risk. As families and the district seek clarity about the circumstances and the legal status of those detained, public health and education leaders say the priority must be mitigating harm and restoring trust.