New Video Emerges of Five-Year-Old Boy Detained by ICE Agents in Minneapolis
Newly released footage has surfaced showing the dramatic moment when masked federal immigration agents detained a five-year-old boy in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The video, obtained by CBS News, captures the arrest of Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Tuesday.
Driveway Arrest Sparks Outrage Among Bystanders
The video shows the young boy being taken with his father on their driveway immediately after arriving home from preschool. Bystanders can be heard screaming and honking their car horns as an ICE agent marches Liam out while holding his Spider-Man backpack. One onlooker shouted passionately: ‘Where’s your humanity? That’s a kid. That is a child.’
Agents escorted Liam inside a blacked-out vehicle while onlookers loudly blew whistles in protest. The incident follows the release of a photograph yesterday showing Liam, wearing an oversized bunny hat and winter coat, being taken into custody, which had already sparked fierce criticism across the community.
Conflicting Accounts from Officials
School officials and Trump administration representatives have offered dramatically different versions of events surrounding the arrest in snow-covered Columbia Heights. US Vice President JD Vance insisted that ICE agents had no alternative but to detain the boy, telling reporters: ‘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?’
Vance claimed the boy was only taken because his father fled the scene, stating: ‘The five-year-old was not arrested … his dad was an illegal alien and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran.’ The Vice President, who noted he is himself a father of a five-year-old, argued that no adult should receive ‘immunity’ from asylum laws simply for being a parent.
Homeland Security Version of Events
The Department of Homeland Security’s account aligned closely with Vance’s narrative, claiming on social media platform X that Adrian had ‘abandoned’ his child during the operation. The agency stated: ‘For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.’
According to their statement, on January 20th, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias. As agents approached the driver, Adrian allegedly fled on foot, leaving his child behind. Liam and Adrian were subsequently transported more than 1,300 miles south to an immigration detention centre in Dilley, Texas.
School Officials Challenge Government Narrative
Lawyers representing Liam and Adrian dispute the characterization of the father and son as ‘illegal aliens,’ an American term for undocumented immigrants. School officials reveal that Liam represents the fourth child in the district to be detained within the past two weeks, part of what they describe as Donald Trump’s surge in deportation orders.
Superintendent Zena Stenvik questioned the rationale behind detaining young children, particularly given the Trump administration’s stated focus on detaining criminals. She asked pointedly: ‘Why detain a five-year-old? You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.’
Contradicting the government’s claim that Liam was abandoned, Stenvik reported hearing an adult in the family home ‘begging’ to care for the boy. She alleged that agents refused this request, instead leading Liam to his front door to knock and check if anyone else was inside. The superintendent went further, claiming that ICE, which maintains more than 3,000 agents in Minnesota, is using Liam as ‘bait.’
Community Response and Wider Context
A GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $200,000 for Liam and Adrian’s legal fees, with organizers stating the family is doing ‘everything they can to reunite’ them. The arrest occurred just a 25-minute drive from where an ICE agent shot and killed Minneapolis local Renée Nicole Good earlier this month, adding to community tensions.
One rural Minnesota resident compared ICE to a ‘wrecking ball’ taking a swing at the state, telling media that immigrant families are now too frightened to leave their homes. She reported seeing government-affiliated vehicles in her small town and expressed concern that people who are homebound out of fear aren’t accessing essential supplies like medicines.
The local resident, who declined to share her name due to fear of retaliation, stated there is ‘no line’ Donald Trump wouldn’t cross, adding emphatically: ‘We have to resist.’ The incident has ignited broader debates about immigration enforcement methods and their impact on communities across Minnesota and beyond.
