An Ecuadorian father and his young son who were detained by immigration authorities this week in Columbia Heights entered the country legally and were following the proper steps to seek asylum, an immigration attorney said on Thursday.

“They did everything right when they came in,” attorney Marc Prokosch said during a news conference on Thursday.

According to Prokosch, Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, entered the country at the Brownsville, Texas, port of entry in 2024 and used the CBP One app to declare their intent to seek asylum in the United States and set an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

“They have shared all of their information with the government, and they were following the process,” Prokosch said. “They were just trying to secure safety from persecution for their family from their home country.”

After their detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the pair were sent to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in San Antonio, Texas, where they are still in custody.

Prokosch said he had not directly spoken with Liam and Conejo Arias, and he did not specify what legal remedy he might take on their behalf.

Pictures of a 5-year-old boy being taken into ICE custody in Columbia Heights on Jan. 20, 2026. (Columbia Heights Public Schools)Conflicting accounts

In a statement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Conejo Arias ran away when ICE agents approached him on Tuesday, “abandoning his child.” The department added that agents attempted to place Liam with his mother but she “refused.”

That differs from the account from Columbia Heights School Board Chair Mary Granlund, who said she heard the commotion while going to pick up her child from school. Granlund said an adult inside the home pleaded, “I will take the child. I will take the child.”

“There was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults. Mom was there. She saw dad out the window, and dad was yelling, ‘Please do not open the door. Don’t open the door,’ because … there’s a little boy knocking at the door with an ICE agent looming over him,” Granlund said, accusing the ICE officer of using Liam as “bait.”

From left: Columbia Heights School Board Chair Mary Granlund, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik, and immigration attorney Marc Prokosch hold a news conference on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, to address the detention of a 5-year-old boy by immigration authorities. (KSTP)‘Taking a toll’

The incident involving Liam and his father inflamed a school community that is already on edge.

“Over the last few weeks, ICE agents have been roaming around our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lots multiple times and taking our kids,” Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said.

Four students within the school district have been detained by federal immigration agents in recent weeks, Stenvik said, including a 17-year-old girl who was taken by ICE after she cracked open the door to her apartment.

“The onslaught of ICE activity in our community is inducing trauma and is taking a toll on our children. Taking a toll on our families, our staff, our community members,” Stenvik said. “This surge has changed nearly everything about our daily lives.”

Granlund said ICE’s presence is jeopardizing students’ ability to learn in a safe environment.

“The sense of safety in our community and around our schools is shaken, and our hearts are shattered,” Granlund said. “And honestly, at the end of the day, children should be in school with their classmates.”

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