Federal officers detain 5-year-old boy who a Minnesota school official says was used as 'bait'
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was detained by federal immigration agents in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, after being taken from his family's driveway upon returning home from preschool, with school officials saying agents used him as "bait" by instructing him to knock on the family's door to see who was inside. The family has an active asylum case and had not been ordered to leave the country, but agents took both Liam and his father to the Dilley, Texas family detention facility, refusing to leave the boy with another adult at the home who offered to take him. Liam is the fourth student from Columbia Heights Public Schools detained by ICE in recent weeks, and the district — where the majority of students come from immigrant families — has seen attendance drop by as much as one-third on some days. An attorney who visited the Dilley facility described conditions as "worse than ever," with nearly every child sick, many malnourished, and significant numbers detained for over 100 days, while Vice President Vance, visiting Minneapolis, defended the operation by asking what agents were supposed to do — without addressing why they refused to leave Liam with the available adult at the home.