ICE detains 5-Year-old with father, sparking dispute over what happened in Minnesota

The detention of a 5-year-old boy from Ecuador along with his father outside their home in Minnesota has caused strong reactions and raised questions about U.S. immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.

Federal officials, school authorities, neighbors and the family’s lawyer are giving very different versions of how the arrest happened and whether the parents were given a real chance to leave the child with someone else.

According to school officials and neighbors, immigration officers asked the child to knock on the door of his home to bring his mother outside. They say officers refused requests from adults who offered to take care of the boy.

The Department of Homeland Security strongly denied this claim. Officials called it false and said the father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, ran from officers and left his son, Liam Conejo Ramos, alone in a car with the engine running.

The incident comes weeks after a separate case in Minneapolis, where an ICE officer fatally shot a woman. Witnesses called that shooting an abuse of power, while federal officials said it was self-defense.

Conejo Arias and his son are now being held together at a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, near San Antonio.

Federal authorities say the father entered the United States illegally in December 2024. White House official Stephen Miller confirmed this claim. However, the family’s lawyer said Conejo Arias had already applied for asylum, which allows him to stay in the country until a judge decides his case.

Court records show the asylum application was filed on December 17, 2024, and the case is assigned to an immigration court inside the Texas detention center.

Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said officers used the child to try to draw the mother outside, calling it “using a 5-year-old as bait.” She said the father told the mother not to open the door.

School leaders also said ICE refused offers from neighbors and school officials who said they could care for the child. A photo of the boy wearing a beanie and a Spiderman backpack has spread widely online.

“Why detain a 5-year-old?” Stenvik asked, saying the child is clearly not a danger.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said ICE did not arrest or target the child and did not use him as bait. 

She said officers were focused on the child’s safety and tried many times to get the mother to take custody. She added that officers promised the mother she would not be arrested.

ICE officials said they followed the father’s wishes to keep his son with him.

Border Patrol official Greg Bovino criticized media reports, calling them misleading. 

ICE enforcement official Marcos Charles said the father abandoned the child by leaving him alone in a car during winter weather. 

He said one officer stayed with the boy, gave him food and tried to reunite him with family.

Charles said people inside the home refused to open the door and take the child. 

He added that the father later asked for the boy to remain with him. 

Officials said they do not know where the child’s mother is.

Advocacy groups say conditions at the Dilley detention center have worsened. Leecia Welch from Children’s Rights said many children have been detained for more than 100 days and that most children she spoke to were sick.

ICE officials rejected those claims, saying families receive good medical care, food, education, recreation and religious services.

Family lawyer Marc Prokosch said he believes the father and son are still together but has not been able to contact them. 

He said he is exploring legal and public pressure options to secure their release.

Officials say the boy likely entered the U.S. with his father and was not born in the country. 

Trump administration policy says ICE should not take children into custody during enforcement actions and should give parents time to arrange care, with limited exceptions.

Legal experts say ICE is required to allow parents time to decide who will care for their children. 

They add that the government is not required to detain a child even if the parent is arrested.

The case continues to draw national attention as questions remain over what happened during the arrest and whether ICE followed its own rules.