The detention of a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy with his father outside their home in Minnesota has become the latest lightning rod for America’s divisions on immigration under the Trump administration. Versions offered by government officials and the family’s attorney and neighbors offer contradictory versions of whether the parents were given adequate opportunity to leave the child with someone else.
‘Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, the people inside refused to take him in and open the door’ — ICE update on 5-year-old
‘They saw the young boy and they REFUSED to open the door and take him back’
The boy and his father are now together https://t.co/j5MRJiocsi pic.twitter.com/MxierSb5In
— RT (@RT_com) January 23, 2026
Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer.
The Department of Homeland Security calls that description of events an “abject lie.” It says the father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot and left the boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, in a running vehicle in their driveway.
The dueling narratives come just two weeks after the deadly shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer that witnesses also viewed as a blatant abuse of power — and that the government defended as a legitimate act of self-defense.
The father and son are now at family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, near San Antonio.
The family’s attorney said he had a pending asylum claim allowing him to stay in the country.
Both can be true. The government may have tried deporting him after determining he entered illegally but he may have exercised a legal right to seek asylum, putting his removal on hold until a judge rules on his claim.
An online court summary shows the case was filed on Dec. 17, 2024, and is assigned to the immigration court inside the Dilley detention center.
Here’s a look at what various officials, lawyers and others are saying about the case:
School officials say ICE used the boy as ‘bait’
Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters that the officers instructed the boy to knock on the door to his home to see if other people were inside, “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” she said.
The father told the child’s mother, who was inside, not to open the door, Stenvik said.
School officials said the agents wouldn’t leave Liam with other adults.
A photo of the boy wearing a beanie and a Spiderman backpack has circulated widely on social media, sparking strong reactions.
“Why detain a 5-year-old?” the superintendent asked. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
Other adults at the scene wanted to care for the boy
School officials said other adults at the scene offered to care for the boy but were ignored by agents, including a neighbor who said they had papers authorizing her to take care of Liam on behalf of the parents.
Mary Granlund, school board chair for Columbia Heights, said she told agents that she also could take care of him.
