The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in main cities has altered the lives of numerous households — together with Renee Good and the 32 people who died in ICE custody in 2025, the Jackson family, the numerous dad and mom afraid to take their youngsters to and from school. Then there are the nearly 75,000 people currently in detainment and going through deportation, and people who have been deported already, separating households throughout international locations and continents.
Up to now two weeks, ICE brokers in Minneapolis have detained 4 minor college students of the Columbia Heights Public Faculty district, together with 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was reportedly used as bait to attract his household out of their residence, according to MPR Information.
In a press convention on Wednesday, Columbia Heights superintendent Zena Stevnik instructed reporters masked brokers “apprehended” Liam in his driveway Tuesday as he arrived residence from preschool pickup together with his father. Division of Homeland Safety spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said “ICE did NOT goal a toddler,” and that brokers had been attempting to arrest Liam’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who was “within the nation illegally.” As brokers approached the daddy and son of their driveway, Conejo Arias fled the scene, McLaughlin stated.
“One other grownup dwelling within the residence was outdoors and begged the brokers to let him handle the small little one, and was refused,” Stenvik stated of what occurred subsequent. “As a substitute, the agent took the kid out of the still-running automobile, led him to the door and directed him to knock on the door asking to be let in with a view to see if anybody else was residence, primarily utilizing a 5-year-old as bait.”
Federal brokers took each the boy and his father away. Liam’s mom and siblings had been unaware of their whereabouts for the subsequent 24 hours till Conejo Arias was capable of name residence from a detention heart in Texas, in line with a GoFundMe set up for the family.
However in line with his faculty district’s management, Liam’s household has an energetic asylum case with no deportation orders — “I’ve considered the authorized paperwork with my very own eyes,” Stenvik stated — that means they’re following authorized processes to achieve citizenship.
“Each step of their immigration course of has been doing what they’ve been requested to do, and so that is simply cruelty,” stated Marc Prokosch, a lawyer representing the Ramos household, who confirmed they’re at present going via the asylum software course of.
On the identical day Liam was detained, a 17-year-old highschool scholar was additionally taken by armed, masked federal brokers whereas on the best way to highschool, in line with Stevnik. One other 17-year-old was detained alongside along with her mom at their residence final week, and two weeks in the past, a 10-year-old scholar and her mom had been taken whereas on their option to her elementary faculty, Stevnik stated. They continue to be in detention in Texas.
“Through the arrest, the kid referred to as her father on the telephone to inform him that ICE brokers had been bringing her to highschool. The daddy instantly got here to the varsity to search out that each his daughter and spouse had been taken,” Stenvik stated in the course of the press convention. “ICE brokers have been roaming our neighborhoods, circling our faculties, following our buses, coming into our parking heaps and taking our youngsters. The sense of security in our group and round our faculties is shaken and our hearts are shattered.”
In consequence, faculty absences have skyrocketed — practically one third of scholars in her district have stayed residence in current weeks as a result of they’re scared, Stevnik stated. Many different districts within the area have recorded 20% to 40% of their college students as absent every day within the final two weeks, MPR Information stories. Each the Minneapolis and St. Paul districts canceled lessons for the rest of the week as academics put together to transition massive swaths of the scholar inhabitants to digital studying.
Scary Mommy recently reported that ICE’s largest household detention heart — the South Texas Household Residential Middle (STFRC) in Dilley, Texas — seems to be opening an on-site faculty for detained youngsters, which critics say is a transfer to sanitize the truth that DHS routinely retains youngsters there longer than is legally permissible. A December 2025 court filing alleges that just about 400 youngsters had been detained for greater than 20 days in August and September alone final yr, throughout which they had been denied sufficient medical care, entry to telephone calls and authorized counsel, and edible meals.
As of this reporting, it’s unclear if Liam and his father are being held on the STFRC or a second, smaller family detention center in Karnes, Texas. When requested if 5-year-old Liam’s detainment was unlawful, Prokosch instructed reporters, “Most likely not, and that’s what’s going to make my job actually troublesome. Simply because one thing is authorized doesn’t imply it’s ethical. You realize, sure, they might have the authorized authority to detain a 5-year-old, however why?”
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