A public school superintendent in Minnesota said federal immigration agents have detained four students over the last two weeks, including a 5-year-old who was allegedly “used as bait.”
Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, said 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were detained in their driveway as they returned from school on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
Stenvik said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents refused to allow the boy to stay with an adult who lived in the house and instead told the boy to knock on his front door “to see if anyone else was home – essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.”
An image showing 5-year-old Liam Ramos with a federal immigration agent outside his home in Minnesota on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
Liam and his father were taken by immigration agents and brought toa detention facility in Texas, Stenvik said, adding that they had active asylum cases and did not have deportation orders.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that ICE conducted a “targeted operation” to detain Liam’s father, writing “ICE did NOT target a child.”
The incident is among the latest interactions between civilians and immigration agents fueling outrage over the aggressive enforcement operations in Minnesota following the deadly shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent on Jan. 7.
A photo showing 5-year-old Liam Ramos being detained by a federal immigration agent in Minnesota.
Vice President JD Vance will travel to Minneapolis on Thursday where he will meet with federal agents amid intensifying legal battles and protests over the ongoing immigration raids.
A White House official said Vance will meet with ICE officers, deliver remarks praising their work and criticize Minneapolis’ “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
DOJ announces arrest in St. Paul church protest
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal agents arrested a person accused of coordinating a protest during Sunday service at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Bondi identified the person arrested as Nekima Levy Armstrong but did not describe any alleged charges. “We will share more updates as they become available,” Bondi said on X, adding, “Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP.”
A group of protestors entered Cities Church on Jan. 18, alleging that Pastor David Easterwood serves as the ICE St. Paul Field Office acting director. Videos show dozens of protesters changing “Renee Good,” and “don’t shoot,” as some verbally confronted churchgoers.
The DOJ launched an investigation into the protest as a potential violation of the FACE Act, a federal law that prohibits the use of force, threats or physical obstruction to block people from reproductive health care or access to religious worship under the First Amendment right to religious freedom.
Appeals court freezes order limiting force against protesters in Minnesota
A federal appeals court on Jan. 21 paused a lower court’s order that had ordered federal immigration agents in Minnesota not to use “intimidation tactics” against peaceful protesters.
The move by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a win to the Trump administration, which had vowed to appeal the lower court’s order that set up guardrails around the behavior of federal agents.
In the lower-court order, U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez said agents appeared to have engaged in “chilling conduct” and “intimidation tactics.” She noted actions such as the “drawing and pointing of weapons,” the “use of pepper spray and other non-lethal munitions” and “actual and threatened arrest and detainment of protesters and observers.”
‘ICE Out of Minneapolis’ protest planned for Friday
Organizers in Minneapolis asked people to call out of work, skip school and refrain from buying anything as part of a protest against the ongoing immigration operations.
“Faith leaders, business owners, workers, and concerned Minnesotans have called for a statewide day of public mourning and pause through ‘No Work, No School and No Shopping’ and a massive, peaceful march in downtown Minneapolis that afternoon,” said a news release about the demonstration scheduled for Friday, Jan. 23.
Over the last two weeks, students at schools across Minnesota have held walkouts in protest of the immigration operation and Renee Good’s killing.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Immigration live updates: ICE detains 5-year-old. Vance in Minneapolis