ST. PAUL, Minn. — Four Minneapolis-area students have been detained by ICE agents in recent weeks, including a 5-year-old boy, school officials said this week.
Two of the students were on their way to school, according to Zena Stenvik, superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, north of Minneapolis.
On Tuesday afternoon, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were taken into custody by ICE agents in their driveway, just after the child returned home from preschool that day, she said.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement "ICE did NOT target a child. The child was ABANDONED."
School board chair Mary Granlund, who witnessed Liam and his dad being detained, told reporters on Thursday that she heard an adult inside the home begging agents to leave the child but they refused.
Granlund was driving to pick up her own children from school Tuesday when she heard and then saw commotion near the family's house.
"I heard one person say: 'What are you doing? Don't take the child,'" she said.
As Granlund got out of her car and walked toward the house, she heard another person yell that someone from the school district had just arrived, referring to Granlund, and could assume responsibility for Liam, she said.
"There was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults," Granlund said.
She said she saw Liam's mom through the window and could hear his father yell at her not to open the door, fearing ICE agents would push their way into the house. It was not immediately clear whether the mother was detained.
Asked whether she was accusing ICE of using children as "bait," Granlund said, "Yes."
"It's very clear from the pictures, from the videos, from firsthand accounts," she added. "I was there. This is what happened."
Officers made "multiple attempts" to get Liam's mother to take custody of him, but she "refused," the statement from McLaughlin said.
"Officers even assured her that they would NOT take her into custody. She refused to accept custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him," McLaughlin said.
"Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates," McLaughlin said in a statement. "This is consistent with past administration's immigration enforcement."
Taking questions from reporters in Minneapolis on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance spoke about ICE's detention of a 5-year-old boy in the city this week.
"I see the story, and I'm a father of a 5-year-old, actually, 5-year-old little boy. And I think to myself: 'Oh, my God, this is terrible. How did we arrest a 5-year-old?'" he said.
"Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?" he said.
Asked to respond to Vance's comments, Granlund said she wanted to stay out of politics but questioned the need to detain minors.
"We've had four children taken from my school district. That's far too many. That's far too many, right?" Granlund told reporters Thursday. "I really just want children to be reading and writing and learning science and all of those subject areas."
Marc Prokosch, an immigration attorney representing the family, said both father and son are being held in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center near San Antonio.
Prokosch said the family entered the United States in 2023 after booking an appointment through the CBP One app, which was set up during the Biden administration to create an orderly way for migrants to enter the U.S. and to reduce illegal border crossings.
The Trump administrationshut down the appshortly after the president took office.
"This family was not eluding ICE in any way. They were following all the established protocols pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings, and pose no safety, no flight risk never should have been detained," Prokosch told reporters Thursday.
ICE on Thursday called Conejo Arias a "criminal illegal alien"on social mediawithout offering evidence or details.
Prokosch added he would explore a habeas corpus petition to release Liam.
Liam's teacher Ella Sullivan said Wednesdaythat his removal has been a shock.
"He comes into class every day, and he just brightens the room," she said. "His friends haven't asked about him yet, but I know that they'll catch on, and it's just a very unfortunate situation. It should not be happening."
The Columbia Heights Public Schools said in a statement that 20 minutes after the boy and his father were taken, "the middle school brother came home to a missing dad, a missing little brother, and a terrified mother."
In addition, on Tuesday, Stenvik said a 17-year-old student was removed from a car and "taken by armed, masked agents alone." Stenvik said no parents were present.
Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old student was "taken by ICE agents" while she was on her way to school with her mom, Stenvik said. She called her dad during the arrest to let him know what was happening, and by the end of the school day, both the student and her mother were in a detention center in Texas, where they remain, Stenvik added.
And last week, agents "pushed their way into an apartment" and detained a 17-year-old student and her mother, Stenvik said.
NBC News has asked DHS for comment on the three additional students Stenvik said ICE detained but did not receive a reply.
Also Tuesday, Stenvik said an ICE vehicle drove onto school property and approached the high school loading dock. She said school administrators told those in the vehicle to leave.
"ICE agents have been roaming our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lots and taking our children," Stenvik said. "The sense of safety in our community and around our schools is shaken, and our hearts are shattered."
Stenvik said that attendance has been down at the district's schools and that recently she made the call to keep recess indoors because ICE agents were patrolling near one of the schools' playgrounds.
"Our children should not be afraid to come to school or to wait at a bus stop," she said.
McLaughlin previously told NBC News that "ICE is not going to schools to make arrests of children. Criminals are no longer able to hide in America's schools to avoid arrest."
