itstargetnews
Listen to this article
Estimated 5 minutes
The audio version of this article was generated using artificial intelligence-based technology. Mistakes in pronunciation may occur. We work with our partners to constantly review and improve results.
As was the case after the death of Renee Good, Minnesota officials and the Trump administration have very different views on how and why immigration police detained a 5-year-old boy in suburban Minneapolis on Tuesday.
School district officials, the family’s attorney and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey all condemned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for detaining Liam Cone Ramos in the driveway of his home in Columbia Heights, Minn., after he returned from kindergarten.
Federal officials – including US Vice President JD Vance – said the boy was not targeted but was caught up in the arrest of his father, who they described as an “illegal alien”.
Here’s a broader look at the different views on how Liam and his father’s arrest went down.
Preschooler was used ‘as bait,’ school officials say
In a statement released Thursday detailing the arrest, the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools said Liam was essentially being used “as bait” by ICE agents before he was detained along with his father.
“Another adult living in the home was outside begging the agents to let them take care of the young child, but was refused,” Zena Stenvik said.
“Instead, the agent took the child out of the still burning vehicle, took him to the door and instructed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, to see if anyone else was home.”
A 5-year-old boy returning home from daycare was reportedly arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in his driveway on Tuesday. The headmaster of the boy’s school says the boy was used by ICE ‘as bait’.
At a news conference Thursday night, Stenvik and school board President Mary Granlund offered more details about what they said they witnessed, with both women describing a fluid situation at the Columbia Heights home, where people were yelling and talking over each other.
Granlund said she witnessed the arrest of Liam and his father on Tuesday while picking up her children from school.
Granlund said she offered to take the child, but can’t remember what the agents told her.
“There was ample opportunity for that child to be safely handed over to adults. The mom was there,” Granlund said.
Stenvik said she was at the home to support her mother, who she said was “distraught.” She said she didn’t see her father try to run away, but she did see him in handcuffs in the driveway.
Vance, ICE says the child is being held for safety
In a written statement Thursday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CBC News that ICE was not targeting the 5-year-old boy, but was instead there to arrest his father, Adrian Alexander Cone Arias, who she described as “illegal alien from Ecuador”.
McLaughlin said ICE officers stayed with the preschooler because his father fled on foot and abandoned him.
“For the safety of the child, one of our ICE officers stayed with the child while other officers arrested Cone Arias,” McLaughlin said.
The statement did not say what happened to Liam after his arrest, but the family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, said Thursday that the boy and his father were being held at an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas.
Speaking during a visit to Minneapolis on Thursday, Vance offered his support DHS’s version of events, saying ICE agents had no choice but to detain the preschooler.
“I see this story — and I’m the father of a five-year-old, actually, a five-year-old little boy — and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is terrible. How did we arrest a five-year-old?'” Vance said.
“I did some follow-up research. What I found was that the five-year-old had not been arrested. His father was an illegal alien and when they went to arrest his illegal father, the father ran away.”
Asked to comment on the arrest of a 5-year-old boy in Minneapolis, US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that ICE agents had no choice but to detain the preschooler, but denied that he had been arrested.
Vance also denied that the boy was “under arrest,” but instead suggested that ICE agents were trying to protect him.
“What are they supposed to do? Let a five-year-old child freeze to death? Not arrest an illegal alien?”
The lawyer contests the lawsuit of ‘illegal aliens’
Speaking alongside school officials Thursday night, the family’s attorney rejected the characterization of Liam’s father as an “illegal alien,” saying both father and son entered the U.S. legally in 2024 and applied for asylum.
“These are not illegal aliens,” Prokosch said Thursday. “They came legally and are going the legal way.”
The lawyer declined to provide further details about their asylum claim and also declined to say whether Liam’s mother is a US citizen.
He said he could not find any criminal records for the father in the Minnesota database.
As for the next steps in his client’s defense, Prokosch said he has not filed a habeas corpus petition — a request that a court review the legality of the detention — but added, “it’s part of our legal strategy.”
