STORY: U.S. immigration authorities detained at least four children including a five-year-old from a Minneapolis-area school district this month as part of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, school district and city officials said on Thursday (January 22).

The Republican administration has deployed about 3,000 officers around Minnesota's largest city, where residents have been on edge since an immigration officer shot and killed a U.S. citizen this month. Democrats and local leaders have accused federal agents of aggressive and unnecessary tactics that have left many immigrant communities afraid.

The child, Liam Conejo Ramos, aged 5, watched as masked agents took his father from the driveway of their home after the two returned from preschool on Tuesday, according to Rachel James, a Columbia Heights city council member who saw several vehicles blocking half the road near the home.

The agents then took the boy, wearing a blue hat and a Spider-Man backpack, and pointed to the back door of the house and motioned for him to knock, she said.

"I can't imagine what was going through Liam's mind, but I can tell you what I saw on his face. He was frozen and paralyzed," James told Reuters on Thursday. "He was not crying, but he looked so scared."

The Department of Homeland Security said that Liam's father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, was in the country illegally but did not provide details or mention any criminal history.

Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said parents targeted in ICE operations are asked if they want their children taken with them or have them placed with a person designated by the parents.

"ICE did NOT target a child," she said, adding that Conejo Arias fled the scene as agents approached, leaving his child behind.

Neighbors in the community north of Minneapolis gathered around and offered to take the boy, including one who said they were part of the family, James said. But the agents put the child in the back seat of a black SUV and sped away, she said.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the city after weeks of outcry that followed the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good, 37, a U.S. citizen and mother of three.

Zena Stenvik, the Columbia Heights Public Schools district superintendent said another minor, a 17-year-old high school student, was taken on Tuesday by armed and masked agents while on the way to school. No parents were present, she said.

Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old was taken by ICE agents on her way to elementary school and she and her mother are still in a Texas detention center, Stenvik said. Last week, a 17-year-old high school student was detained with her mother by ICE agents at their apartment, she said.

The identity of the child was verified by comparing his facial features with other file images. The date when the photos were taken was verified by the metadata on the original image files. The garage door, road layout, building facade and fencing matched file and satellite imagery, as well as a corroborating visual, of the area. School district officials said on Wednesday (January 21) that a five-year-old was one of four children detained this month. A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said that ICE agents attempted to apprehend the father of the child on Tuesday (January 20).

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: INTERVIEW WITH EYEWITNESS RACHEL JAMES, WHO SAYS SHE SAW ICE AGENTS DETAINING A FIVE YEAR OLD BOY, IDENTIFIED AS LIAM CONEJO RAMOS IN MINNEAPOLIS, VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE ADDRESSING THE DETENTION OF RAMOS/ EYEWITNESS VIDEO OF 5-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS STANDING NEXT TO A CAR WITH ICE AGENTS NEARBY

VERIFIED BY:

- Child’s identity verified by comparing facial features with file images

- Date verified by metadata on original image files

- Garage door, road layout, building facade and fencing matched file and satellite imagery and verified corroborating visual

- School district officials said on Wednesday (January 21) that a five-year-old was one of four children detained this month

- Department of Homeland Security said they attempted to apprehend the father of the child on Tuesday (January 20)

CORRECTION: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: RESENDING TO CORRECT SOURCE AND RESTRICTIONS IN TEMPLATE AND SHOTS 1 AND 2 IN THE SHOTLIST TO 'RACHEL JAMES-MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY RACHEL JAMES'

SHOWS: COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 20, 2026) (RACHEL JAMES - Must on-screen courtesy Rachel James) (MUTE)

1. EYEWITNESS VIDEO OF OF 5-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS STANDING NEXT TO A CAR WITH ICE AGENTS NEARBY

2. PHOTO OF 5-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS STANDING NEXT TO A CAR WITH ICE AGENTS NEARBY

COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 22, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

3. VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF 5-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS' PARENTS HOUSE

4. YARD OUTSIDE OF RAMO'S PARENTS' HOUSE

5. COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AND EYEWITNESS WHO SAYS SHE SAW ICE AGENTS DETAINING FIVE-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS, RACHEL JAMES LOOKING AT A MAP

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AND EYEWITNESS WHO SAYS SHE SAW ICE AGENTS DETAINING FIVE-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS, RACHEL JAMES, SAYING:

"On Tuesday afternoon, I was in the neighborhood where the school drop-offs happened nearby my house, and I heard honking and whistling. I was just a couple of blocks away, so I drove to the area worried because my children have friends on that block, and I wanted to see what was happening. I saw several vehicles kind of blocking off the road, and I saw a man standing by a running vehicle in a driveway being detained by agents that were unnamed and masked. I assumed they were ICE agents. And I started observing and recording, standing well back from the scene. There were maybe 15 other community members. They were neighbors, people I recognized. And then I heard a neighbor say, "There's a kid." And my heart just dropped."

7. NEWSPAPER HEADLINE OUTSIDE RAMOS' HOME READING (English): "RESISTANCE TO ICE."

8. OUTSIDE OF RAMOS' HOME

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AND EYEWITNESS WHO SAYS SHE SAW ICE AGENTS DETAINING 5-YEAR OLD LIAM RAMOS, RACHEL JAMES, SAYING:

"And I saw them put the man into the back of an SUV, and there were several agents doing that. And then I saw two agents, I assume, in the backyard, fenced in with a chain-link fence, and there was a little boy there. He was wearing a blue hat and had a really tiny backpack on, a Spiderman backpack, and he was by himself. And then these agents were - one knee down and were pointing at the door for him to knock at the door."

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 22, 2026) (U.S. NETWORK POOL - No use USA)

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE, SAYING:

"You know, you asked a question about this five-year-old kid. I actually saw this terrible story while I was coming to Minneapolis. We had just left Toledo, Ohio, this morning for an economic messaging event, and I see this story. And I'm a father of a five-year-old, actually, a five-year-old little boy. And I think to myself, oh my God, this is terrible. How did we arrest a five-year-old? Well, I do a little bit more follow-up research. And what I find is that the five-year-old was not arrested, that his dad was an illegal alien. And then when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran. So, the story is that ICE detained a five-year-old. Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America? If the argument is that you can't arrest people who have violated our laws because they have children, then every single parent is going to be completely given immunity from ever being the subject of law enforcement. That doesn't make any sense. No one thinks that makes any sense."

COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 22, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AND EYEWITNESS WHO SAYS SHE SAW ICE AGENTS DETAINING FIVE-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS, RACHEL JAMES, SAYING:

"I heard one neighbor say, ‘I live in this house. I'm part of this family. I can take him. Let him come to me.’ I heard another neighbor on the other side say, ‘I have the forms. His mom signed the forms. Let me have him. I know him. I know him.’ And I was there, and I said, the school buses, those small buses for preschool were driving by, and I said, ‘Let's get him back to school if you don't have it. We have the superintendent coming. The superintendent's right here, because she's a close friend,’ and I said, ‘We can get her here and come.’ And the agents weren't listening to us. One of the agents had a crowd control stick. He had it down. He wasn't late raising it, but I didn't want to get any closer. And they were asking me to go back. So, I just took videos and was crying and kept saying, Wait, wait, wait. I kept saying, Stop, wait. He can go with us. He can go with the teachers. And then they took him over to the car and he was just standing there, and then they quickly put him in the backseat and drove away."

12. JAMES DURING INTERVIEW

13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AND EYEWITNESS WHO SAYS SHE SAW ICE AGENTS DETAINING FIVE-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS, RACHEL JAMES, SAYING:

"I can't imagine what was going through Liam's mind, but I can tell you what I saw on his face. He was frozen and paralyzed. He was not crying, but he looked so scared."

14. JAMES TALKING TO MAN

15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AND EYEWITNESS WHO SAYS SHE SAW ICE AGENTS DETAINING FIVE-YEAR-OLD LIAM RAMOS, RACHEL JAMES, SAYING:

"Community member was not a criminal. We have heard from the school district's press conference and from the family's lawyer that they were in the legal process following all the steps toward asylum seeking. They had no deportation orders. It is not right for a dad to go pick up his son from preschool, drive home, and as he's getting out in his driveway, be swarmed with officers. That is not the right way to go about enforcement. And the son to be taken away from knocking at the door alone. We've heard later that his mother was in the house and that she was scared to open the door. There are so many ways that we could put the safety of our children first instead of terror, and this disorganized. Even on the scene, the officers were asking, "What are we doing? What are we doing?" like they did not have any plan to take care of this child's safety."

16. EXTERIOR OF RAMOS' HOME