In a contentious move, a young boy from Minnesota, aged five, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while they apprehended his father. The child has now been relocated to a detention center in Texas, as confirmed by authorities.
Liam Ramos was photographed in a heart-wrenching moment that quickly spread across social media. The images captured him tearfully clutching his backpack, wearing a bunny-shaped hat, while ICE agents carried out their operation at his home.
This incident has intensified the ongoing debate surrounding President Trump’s immigration policies in Minnesota, particularly in the wake of the recent fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a protester against ICE.
As the distressing images of Ramos gained widespread attention, Vice President JD Vance claimed that the officers were compelled to detain the boy because his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, allegedly ‘abandoned’ him in an attempt to escape.
ICE, in a statement on platform X, insisted that agents ensured the child’s safety in the freezing weather. They claimed multiple attempts were made to hand over Ramos to his family, who reportedly refused to accept custody.
However, Marc Prokosch, the family’s lawyer, refuted these claims, maintaining that Arias did not try to flee the scene.
Prokosch told a press conference on Thursday that Ramos and his father entered the US from Ecuador in December 2024 and had a pending asylum case, adding that his family had no deportation order or criminal record.
Following the arrest, federal officials said Arias insisted on keeping his son with him and confirmed that they were taken to an immigration processing center in Dilley, Texas – over 1,300 miles from their home in Minnesota.
The Dilley facility is designed to house migrant families together, but has been plagued by allegations of prolonged stays in grim conditions, including a lack of access to water, according to CNN.
Liam Ramos, a five-year-old Minnesota boy detained by ICE during the arrest of his father, has been transported to a facility in Texas as his case sparks controversy across the nation
Ramos was seen in images that circulated social media this week wearing a bunny-shaped beanie and appearing upset as ICE agents descended on his home
Ramos and his father were taken to an immigration processing center in Dilley, Texas (pictured) – a facility designed to house migrant families together plagued by allegations of prolonged stays in grim conditions, including a lack of access to water
The attorney for the family insists that they followed established protocol to pursue a legal asylum claim, including presenting themselves to authorities at the border and showing up for all court hearings.
‘This family was not eluding ICE in any way,’ Prokosch said. ‘They were following all the established protocols.’
The Daily Mail has contacted ICE for comment on its plans for Ramos and his father, and whether they will be deported or transferred back to Minnesota.
The incident has sharply divided opinions over how the arrest unfolded, with Republicans offering a different version of events to Minnesota officials.
According to the Columbia Heights Public School District, where Ramos was a student, the arrest of Ramos came as he was arriving home from pre-school.
As they detained his father – allegedly after he tried to flee – an ICE agent walked with the young boy to his door and asked to see if anyone else from his family was home.
Zena Stenvik, the Columbia Heights Public Schools superintendent, disputed the version of events put forward by ICE over what happened next – claiming that someone from Ramos’s home asked to take the young boy inside, but was refused.
Although ICE alleged that they detained the boy because nobody would take custody of him, school board member Mary Granlund told a press conference that she was on the scene during the arrest, and told officers she could take him.
According to Granlund, the ICE officers did not allow her to take custody of the child, and chose to detain him instead.
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The incident has sharply divided opinions over how the arrest unfolded, as Vice President JD Vance alleged that Ramos’s father tried to flee ICE agents and ‘abandoned’ his son
Marc Prokosch, an attorney for the family, has denied that Ramos’s father tried to flee the scene, and insists that they followed established protocol to pursue a legal asylum claim when they entered the US from Ecuador in December 2024
Stenvik grew emotional at the press conference as she questioned: ‘Why detain a five-year-old? You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.’
In a speech Thursday in Minnesota, Vice President JD Vance said ICE agents had ‘no choice’ but to detain Ramos because his ‘father ran.’
‘What are they supposed to do?’ he said of ICE agents on the scene. ‘Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?’
Vance disputed Prokosch’s depiction of Arias as a legal asylum seeker, instead portraying him as an ‘illegal alien’ who deserved to be arrested even with his young son by his side.
‘If the argument is that you can’t arrest people who have violated laws because they have children… that doesn’t make any sense,’ he said.
The arrest drew renewed scrutiny to President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota just weeks after the fatal shooting of an anti-ICE protester. An unrelated protester is pictured being detained by ICE in Minneapolis on January 21
US Border Patrol senior official Gregory Bovino added that immigration operations in Minnesota were ‘targeted’ only at ‘individuals who pose a serious threat to this community.’
Officials have not elaborated on the threat they believe Arias posed to the community, and his attorney says he had no criminal record.
The Ecuadorian government told CBS News that its consulate in Minneapolis has contacted ICE over Ramos’s arrest, and said it is ‘monitoring the situation of the child in order to safeguard their safety and well-being.’
