School officials said the child, Liam Conejo Ramos, was “essentially” used as “bait to arrest his father, who is seeking asylum in the United States.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials detained a five-year-old boy who came home from kindergarten in Minnesota after allegedly using him “as bait” to arrest his father, who has a pending asylum case.

Federal agents removed the child, Liam Conejo Ramos, from a moving car Tuesday afternoon, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said at a news conference Wednesday.

Stanwick said police then had the child knock on his door to see if anyone else was inside, “basically using a five-year-old as bait.”

Stanwick said the family came to the United States in 2024 and is currently applying for asylum and has not been ordered to leave the country.

“Why should a five-year-old be detained?” she asked. “You can’t tell me that this kid is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”

“ICE is not targeting children,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

She said ICE was conducting an operation to arrest the child’s father, Adrian Alexander Cornejo Arias, who McLaughlin said was from Ecuador.

“For the safety of the child, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while other officers arrested Cornejo Arias,” McLaughlin said, adding that parents can choose to be removed with their child or have their child placed with someone of their choice.

Stanwick said Liam is the fourth Columbia Heights Public Schools student to be detained by ICE in recent weeks. She said a 17-year-old student was taken away on her way to school on Tuesday, along with a 10-year-old and a 17-year-old.

The family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, said Thursday that Liam and his father were taken to an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, where he believed they were being held in a family holding cell.

“We are considering our legal options to see if they can be released through some legal mechanism or moral pressure,” he told a news conference.

An attorney visited the Dilley Detention Facility last week as part of an ongoing lawsuit to ensure the safety of immigrant children in federal custody. He said conditions in detention facilities were deteriorating.

“Things are worse than they’ve ever been,” said Leecia Welch, chief counsel for Children’s Advocacy.

“The number of children has skyrocketed, with large numbers of children being detained for more than 100 days,” Welch said.

“Nearly every child we spoke to was sick, and there seemed to be an epidemic. Families reported that their children were malnourished, very sick, and suffering deeply from the prolonged detention,” Welch said.

Vice President J.D. Vance said during a visit to Minneapolis on Thursday that he had heard “horrible stories” about Liam but said he was unsure what federal agents could have done differently.

“Well, what should they do? Should they let a five-year-old freeze to death? Shouldn’t they arrest an illegal immigrant in the United States?” Vance said, noting that he is also the parent of a five-year-old.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Greg Bovino said U.S. federal agents have arrested about 3,000 people in immigration raids across Minnesota in recent weeks.

Advocates have no way of knowing whether the government’s arrest numbers and descriptions of detainees are accurate, said Julia Decker, policy director at the Minnesota Immigration Law Center.

Also on Thursday, U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi said three people were arrested after a protest at St. Paul City Church in Minneapolis, and they charged one of the pastors, David Easterwood, who was the acting field director of the ICE field office in St. Paul. Those arrested included Minneapolis civil rights activist Nekima Levy-Armstrong and St. Paul school board member Jotelle Louisa Allen, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

In a post on X, Bundy said Armstrong played a “key role” in organizing Sunday’s protest.