Minnesota Immigration Raids Continue with Detention of Young Boy

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detained a five-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, at his home in Minnesota on Tuesday afternoon. The child’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who has a pending asylum case, was also apprehended by ICE during the same operation.

According to Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik, the officers used the child as “bait” to lure him into his home, where they then detained him. The family had not been ordered to leave the country and had an active asylum case.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated that ICE was conducting an operation to arrest Mr. Conejo Arias, who is from Ecuador. She added that one of the officers remained with the child during the apprehension process.

The family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch, reported that Liam and his father were taken to an immigration lockup in Dilley, Texas. He stated that he assumes they were being held in a family holding cell and plans to explore legal options to free them.

A lawyer who visited the Dilley detention facility last week described deteriorating conditions, citing an increase in children being detained for over 100 days and reports of widespread illnesses among detainees. The lawyer noted that nearly every child spoken to was sick and that families reported their children were malnourished and suffering from prolonged detention.

US Vice President JD Vance expressed concern about the situation, stating that he heard the story about Liam but was unsure what federal agents could have done differently. US Customs and Border Protection officials reported that over 3,000 people have been arrested in immigration raids across Minnesota in recent weeks.

Source: Al Jazeera