U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces fierce local condemnation following the detention of a five-year-old boy and three other students in this school district, with the superintendent alleging the young child was used as “bait” to draw out family members. In a series of incidents over the past two weeks, masked agents have detained four Columbia Heights students, including the kindergartener taken with his father from their driveway Tuesday. “Why detain a 5-year-old? You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal,” said district Superintendent Zena Stenvik.
Detailing Tuesday’s operation, Stenvik stated, “Another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let him take care of the small child, and was refused.” She continued, “Instead, the agent took the child out of the still-running car, led him to the door and directed him to knock on the door asking to be let in in order to see if anyone else was home, essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.” The father and son were then transported to a Texas detention facility. Attorney Marc Prokosch, representing the family, confirmed they have an active asylum case with no deportation order, calling the detention an act of “cruelty.”
The district reports a climate of intense fear, with nearly one-third of students staying home recently. Other detentions include a 10-year-old girl and her mother taken while traveling to school and a 17-year-old student detained from an apartment. “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.”
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security categorically denied detaining the five-year-old, identified as Liam Conejo Ramos. It asserted that agents were targeting his father, who allegedly fled on foot during the operation. “The child was ABANDONED,” the statement read, adding that an officer remained with the boy for his safety and that procedures were followed to place children with a designated safe person. The conflicting accounts highlight the deepening tension between local communities and federal immigration authorities over enforcement tactics.