A preschooler was taken away by ICE, but officials say they had no choice. Here’s what we know

By Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN) — Bundled up in his tiny plaid coat and blue knit bunny hat, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos looks terrified as strangers take him away from his home in Minnesota.

A masked federal agent walks behind the preschooler, holding the handle of his Spiderman backpack as Liam gets into a snow-streaked black SUV – and later, on a plane with his father to a family detention facility in Texas.

What exactly led Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take Liam and his dad away from their suburban Minneapolis driveway remains in dispute.

But the boy’s plight – and his uncertain future – sparked renewed outrage: Liam is now the fourth child from his school district to be taken away by ICE in just the past two weeks, Columbia Heights Public Schools said.

Here’s what we know about Liam’s story:

His family came to the US legally, attorney says, but DHS calls the father an illegal alien

Liam and his family are originally from Ecuador and presented themselves to border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum, said the family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch.

“These are not illegal aliens,” Prokosch said. “They were following all the established protocols, pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings, and posed no safety, no flight risk and never should have been detained.”

But the Department of Homeland Security described Liam’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, as an illegal alien who was the target of the operation.

Why Liam is in a detention facility instead of at home with his mother

Liam was just steps away from his home, where his mother was inside. Why he was separated from his mom is a point of debate.

According to DHS, “The child was ABANDONDED by his father, and the alleged mother REFUSED to take custody of her own child,” the agency posted Friday on X.

“Our law enforcement took care of the child, got him McDonald’s and played him his favorite music to comfort him.”

DHS also said officers “made multiple attempts to get the mother inside the house to take custody of her child. Officers even assured her that they would NOT take her into custody. She refused to accept custody of the child.”

But Liam’s mother, who is pregnant and also has a teenage son, was “terrified” of the agents outside her door, said Pastor Sergio Amezcua, who has been helping the mother since her husband and son were taken away.

“ICE agents were trying to use the baby to get her to come out of her house, but the neighbors … advised her not to do it,” fearing she would be detained, Amezcua said.

ICE disputed that claim, saying the agency has never “used a child as bait.”

“My officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family,” said Marcos Charles, the executive associate director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Agents took the boy with them after his father told officers he wanted Liam to stay with him, according to DHS.

‘Please do not open the door!’

One of the witnesses who was driving by and saw agents take Liam away was Mary Granlund – the school board chair at Columbia Heights Public Schools.

She described a commotion at the scene, with onlookers telling agents: “What are you doing? Don’t take the child!”

One person pleaded: “There are people here that can take him,” Granlund said. “There was another adult who lived in the home that was there saying, ‘I will take the child. I will take the child.’”

When someone recognized the school board chair, Granlund said, they yelled: “The school is here! They can take the child. You don’t have to take them.”

Liam’s mother looked out the window, Granlund said, but Liam’s father was yelling, “Please do not open the door! Don’t open the door!”

More children are getting taken away by agents

Liam, a student in the “PreK 4” program at Valley View Elementary, isn’t the only child from his school district who has been taken away by federal agents. Three other students have also been taken by ICE, school officials said.

Also on Tuesday, a 17-year-old Columbia Heights High School student on the way to school was taken by armed, masked agents, Columbia Heights Public Schools said.

“No parents were present,” the school district said. “The student was removed from their car and taken away.”

Last week, ICE agents entered the apartment of another 17-year-old high school student and her mother. Both were detained, the district said.

And a fourth grader was taken by ICE agents on her way to school with her mother two weeks ago. The 10-year-old is still in a Texas detention center, the school district said on Wednesday.

CNN has asked DHS for details on these cases.

Vance defends agents’ actions

During a visit to Minneapolis on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said he understood the initial concern over Liam’s story and gave slightly different details of what happened.

“I’m a father of a 5-year-old – actually a 5-year-old little boy – and I think to myself, ‘Oh my God, this is terrible. How did we arrest a five-year-old?’” Vance said at a news conference.

“Well, I do a little bit more follow-up research, and what I find is that the 5-year-old was not arrested – that his dad was an illegal alien. And when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran,” he said.

“So the story is that ICE detained a 5-year-old. 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?”

What we know about the father’s background

Liam’s father does not appear to have a criminal record in Minnesota, according to Prokosch. CNN was also unable to find any criminal record for him.

The Trump administration has repeatedly said it is targeting “violent criminals” and the “worst of the worst” in its immigration sweeps. But DHS has not said whether Liam’s dad has been accused of any violent crimes.

When asked at a news conference Friday, an ICE official said he could not provide information about the father’s potential criminal history.

“I will have to get back to you with any of his in-depth criminal history,” Charles said. “But he was in the United States illegally, and I believe he’d been ordered removed.”

In recent months, federal agents have been using controversial warrants called administrative warrants to arrest immigrants.

Administrative warrants require less evidence than judicial warrants. They are signed by authorized ICE officers – not judges – and are used to arrest people who have a final order of removal but might not have a criminal background.

Where Liam and his dad are being held now

Liam and his dad were taken across the country to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas – an ICE facility for families, Prokosch said.

Hundreds of families have been held at Dilley, including children ranging from infants to teenagers. While the facility includes features for children – such as a gym, a library, and classrooms – some have reported poor conditions and worry about the consequences of children getting uprooted and held in a detention center to no fault of their own.

CNN’s Sara Sidner, Meridith Edwards, Chris Boyette, Carma Hassan, Laura Coates and Amanda Musa contributed to this report.

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