A new and deeply unsettling flashpoint has emerged in Minneapolis as federal immigration enforcement, already under intense scrutiny, has extended to the detention of young children seeking asylum. The case of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, taken into custody with his father outside their home this week, has amplified national outrage and crystallized the growing conflict between the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation agenda and the communities resisting it.
Liam Conejo Ramos was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on January 20 shortly after arriving home from preschool in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights. According to school officials, agents had the child knock on his own door to see if anyone else was inside, a tactic the district condemned as “essentially using a 5 year old as bait”. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) countered that the boy’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot during the operation, “abandoning his child,” and that an officer stayed with Liam for his safety.
However, the family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, states that Liam and his father are asylum seekers from Ecuador who entered the U.S. legally at a port of entry and have a pending asylum case with no order of deportation. “They did everything right,” Prokosch said. Liam is one of at least four students from the Columbia Heights school district detained by ICE this month, including a 10-year-old girl and a 17-year-old high school student. The impact has been profound: school attendance in affected areas has plummeted to as low as 60%, and districts are offering remote learning and special transportation for terrified families.
The child detentions occur against the backdrop of a massive federal enforcement surge dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” which has deployed thousands of ICE and Border Patrol agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The operation began just days before an ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, fatally shot 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Good on January 7. Good was in her car when Ross fired three shots, killing her. While the administration claims Ross acted in self-defense, video evidence and eyewitness accounts have fueled widespread protests and accusations of an unjustified killing.
The administration has staunchly defended its agents. Vice President JD Vance, visiting Minneapolis on Thursday, asserted that federal law enforcement officers involved in such actions are protected by “absolute immunity”. He blamed local “sanctuary” policies for creating a hostile environment and argued that the detention of Liam Ramos was a consequence of his father’s decision to flee. “What are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?” Vance asked.
Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota have long-established policies limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The Trump administration frames these “sanctuary” policies as a direct threat to public safety. A DHS statement accused Minneapolis officials of releasing “nearly 470 criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets,” including a man charged with vehicular homicide. The White House argues that this “defiance over partnership” is responsible for the heightened tensions and the need for a large federal presence.
State and local leaders have forcefully rejected this narrative. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, have filed a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop the ICE deployments. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has called the influx of approximately 3,000 federal agents an “occupation” and condemned the treatment of children. The political and legal standoff is escalating, with the Justice Department reportedly investigating Minnesota officials, and the state seeking a temporary restraining order to pause the ICE sweeps.
The response from the Minneapolis community has been a powerful display of collective action. On Friday, hundreds of businesses across Minnesota closed their doors for a coordinated economic strike and day of protest, with organizers demanding “ICE out of Minnesota”. Restaurateur Kim Bartmann, who closed six establishments, said sales had already dropped over 30% in the past three weeks as customers and staff, including U.S. citizens, remain too afraid to leave their homes.
The image of a five-year-old boy being led away by immigration agents has become a potent symbol of the conflict. With national polls showing a majority of voters believe ICE has “gone too far,” the events in Minneapolis represent not just a local enforcement operation, but a fundamental clash over the methods and morality of American immigration policy. As federal troops remain on standby and the threat of the Insurrection Act looms, the city stands as a testing ground for the limits of federal power and community resistance.