Local officials in Minnesota claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have detained four youth over the past several weeks, including a 5-year-old child taken along with his father.
Foreign news agencies report that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained at least four children, including a 5-year-old, from the Minneapolis school district in Minnesota over the past month. This was part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, according to local officials.
The Republican-led government deployed about 3,000 officers around Minnesota’s largest city, where tensions have risen since ICE agents shot and killed a US citizen a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Democratic members and local leaders have accused the officers of using excessive force.
Rachel James, a city council member in Columbia Heights and an eyewitness, recounted that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos watched masked officers detain his father from across their front yard after they had just returned from preschool on Tuesday.
She added that the officers then took the boy, who wore a blue hat and a Spider-Man backpack, to the back door of their house and signaled for him to knock.
“I can’t imagine what was going through Liam’s mind, but I can tell you from what I saw on his face, he was frozen like he was paralyzed,” James told Reuters on Thursday. “He didn’t cry, but he looked very scared.”
The Department of Homeland Security stated that Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, Liam’s father, is residing in the country illegally but gave no further details or mentioned any criminal history.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman, said that during ICE operations, targeted parents are asked whether they want their children to accompany them or prefer the children be cared for by someone designated by the parent.
“ICE is not targeting the children,” she said, adding that Conejo Arias fled the scene as officers approached, leaving his child behind.
However, James claimed that neighbors in the North Minneapolis community gathered and offered to care for the boy, including one neighbor who said they were related to the family. Despite this, officers put the boy in the back seat of a black SUV and quickly drove away.
This incident comes amid escalating tensions in the city following weeks of violent protests over the shooting death of 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three, Rene Good, by ICE agents.
Zina Stenvik, director of the Columbia Heights school district, revealed that another youth, a 17-year-old high school student, was detained by armed, masked officers on Tuesday while traveling to school without a guardian present.
Additionally, two weeks ago, a 10-year-old girl was detained by ICE officers on her way to elementary school; she and her mother remain held at a detention center in Texas. Last week, another 17-year-old high school student was detained with her mother at their apartment by ICE agents.
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Source:cna