US federal immigration agents detain 5-year-old boy in Minnesota

Federal immigration agents have detained a five-year-old boy in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, drawing sharp criticism from school officials and community leaders.

Liam Conejo Ramos was taken into custody along with his father on Tuesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in their driveway shortly after returning home from his preschool class.

School officials said the child was also used as bait, with officers having him knock on the door and ask to be let in so they could see whether anyone else was inside the home.

“Why detain a 5-year-old? You can't tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal,” said Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik.

The Columbia Heights Public School District said three of its students had been arrested earlier, bringing the total number of students taken into custody by ICE agents over the past two weeks to four.

Earlier this month, two children were detained, while a 10-year-old girl was taken by ICE agents two weeks ago as she was on her way to school with her mother.

During that arrest, the child called her father to tell him that ICE agents were bringing her to school. He later arrived to learn that both his daughter and wife had been taken into custody.

District leaders say some of ICE’s tactics to detain suspected undocumented immigrants are overly aggressive and traumatizing for young children.

“We had an ICE vehicle drive onto our school property just two hours ago,” Superintendent  Stenvik said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

“ICE agents have been roaming our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lots and taking our children. The sense of safety in our community and around our schools is shaken and our hearts are shattered,” she said.

The district urged the public to become involved in addressing a growing crisis affecting students across Minnesota.

“We are asking to please reach out to your congressional representative to ask for an immediate and peaceful resolution to this occupation,” Stenvik said. “Please help us and other schools to again be a safe place where all belong and all succeed.”

The district said it has retained an immigration lawyer to help determine how to bring the detained students back to Minnesota.

Meanwhile, officials said ICE agents have continued to linger around school areas, intimidating students, staff, and parents as part of an intensified enforcement push.

Tear gas, death, denial: Trump’s ICE crackdown sparks nationwide uprising

The US has escalated crackdown on protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, firing tear gas and spraying chemical irritants into crowds.

Protesters are staging rallies against ICE after Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of 3, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, earlier this month.

On Monday, anti-ICE protesters gathered outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis.

Local leaders slammed ICE's presence in the area, with Minneapolis' Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey telling the agency to “get the f‑‑‑ out of Minneapolis.”

Good was accused by the Trump administration of attempting to run the ICE agent over with her car. The woman's effort to flee from the brutal ICE agents was described as an act of “domestic terrorism.” US President Donald Trump has defended the violent anti-immigration procedures of federal agencies.
 

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