ICE Detains 5-Year-Old Liam and Father in Minnesota
Father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias and son Liam Conejo Ramos were detained Jan. 20 and transferred to the Dilley, Texas, family detention center.
Overview
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, on Jan. 20 in Columbia Heights, Minn., and moved them to Dilley, Texas, officials confirmed.
Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said officers told the boy to knock on his homes door as "bait," a claim Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin called "an abject lie," illustrating sharply conflicting accounts.
Marcos Charles, acting executive associate director of ICE enforcement and removal operations, said one officer stayed with Liam and agents tried to reunite him, while Marc Prokosch said the father has a pending asylum claim.
A Guardian analysis found ICE booked 3,800 minors into family detention from Jan. to Oct. 2025, with 2,600 apprehended inside the U.S., and Columbia Heights officials said four district students were detained, records show.
An online court summary shows the family's case was docketed Dec. 17, 2024, and Marc Prokosch said he is pursuing legal options while advocates press courts to limit out-of-state transfers and challenge family detention policy.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the story as a humanitarian critique of ICE enforcement, emphasizing the child's vulnerability and alleged misuse of enforcement tactics. Even in straight reporting, editorial choices—vivid imagery, sequencing quotes from school officials and child‑welfare advocates, and linking to detention‑center conditions—tilt the narrative toward concern and criticism.
Sources (32)
FAQ
School officials claimed ICE used the 5-year-old as 'bait' by instructing him to knock on his home's door, while DHS denied this as an 'abject lie,' stating the father fled officers and an agent stayed with the child for safety.
Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias are held at the Dilley, Texas family detention center, with their immigration case docketed on Dec. 17, 2024, in the facility's court; the lawyer is pursuing legal options for release.
Advocates report substandard medical care, degrading treatment, prolonged detention over 100 days, malnourishment, illness, and declines in children's physical and mental health at Dilley.
The father has a pending asylum claim and no apparent criminal record per his lawyer; DHS calls him an 'illegal alien' who committed a federal crime by evading arrest and abandoning his son.
Senator Chris Murphy was denied entry for oversight despite notice; the facility reopened last year after closing in 2024, amid pressure for the child's release and broader policy concerns.
History
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