By: Gabrielle Oudkerk and Emily Nixon
On Jan. 31, Liam “Conejo” Ramos, age 5, and his dad returned to their Minneapolis home after being released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment after multiple protests and calls for their release.
“Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad, Adrian, were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning,” stated a post on X by Texas Congressmember Joaquin Castro. “Thank you to everyone who demanded freedom for Liam. We won’t stop until all the children and families are home.”
During his detainment, Texas Congressmember Jasmine Crockett visited Ramos and found the boy to be “lethargic,” having fallen ill in ICE Custody, according to a CNN interview with Congressmember Crockett.
Congressmember Castro, who accompanied Crockett on the visit to the detention center, recounted that Ramos’ father said that Ramos has “been sleeping so much” and “is barely awake” because he was “depressed […] and asking to go home,” during an interview on “The Briefing with Jen Psaki” from MS Now.
There has been an outpour of protests and a call to protect children from ICE after images of Ramos’ detainment went viral on the internet, according to the segment.
“Law Enforcement clashed with around 100 protestors who were demanding ICE stop detaining children,” said Jen Psaki, the host of the segment and former White House Secretary. “The symbol at the center of that protest were images of bunny ears and Spider-Man. A reference to the bunny ear hat and Spider-Man backpack worn by Liam Ramos when ICE detained him and his father.”
Ramos and his father’s detainment drew criticism from various sources. In a statement from the Superintendent of Ramos’ school district, Zena Stenvik, to The Guardian, the ICE agents were “essentially using a five-year-old as bait,” to lure unsuspecting family members out of the home.“An agent hadtaken Liam out of the car, led the boy to his front door and directed him to knock on the door asking to be let in ‘in order to see if anyone else was home’,” said Stenvik.
In addition to the controversial tactics used by ICE agents during the incident, the detainment itself was a point of added controversy.
“The family had an active asylum case and shared paperwork showing the father and son had arrived to the US at a port of entry, meaning an official crossing point,” Marc Prokosch, an attorney representing the family, told The Guardian. “They did not come here illegally. They are not criminals.”
In the interview with Psaki, Congressmember Castro mentions that detainees at Dilley were not criminals.
“There isn’t a single criminal at the Dilley detention center,” said Castro. “ICE told me that. You can’t have a criminal conviction to get sent there.”
Liam’s detainment wasn’t an isolated incident, with three other students from the same school district being detained by ICE agents, according to an article by the Minnesota branch of ABC 5, KSTP.
“A 17-year-old high school student on his way to school was taken by ICE agents with no parents present. [Superintendent Stenvik] said the student was reportedly removed from their car and taken away,” stated the article. “A 10-year-old child in fourth grade was taken by ICE agents on her way to school with her mom. […] A 17-year-old Columbia Heights High School student and her mother were detained by ICE agents in their apartment.”
Minnesota is not the only state faced with children being swept up by ICE agents.
“At least 3,800 children under age 18, including 20 infants, have been booked since Trump took office,” according toThe Marshall Project.
Unrest in Minnesota has been compounded by the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents, which have led to more protests across the country.
The discontent in Minnesota has not been solely aimed at ICE. On Jan. 27, during a town hall, Representative Ilhan Omar was sprayed with an unknown substance, later confirmed to be apple cider vinegar, according to a NY Times article.
The attack came after Omar mentioned abolishing ICE and calling for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment, and her attacker, Anthony James Kazmierczak, 55, has been charged with third-degree assault, according to an article by The Guardian.
While anti-ICE protests were held in Minnesota, United States President Donald Trump questioned the motives of the protestors themselves on Truth Social, then went on to claim that Minnesota was out of control.
“In Minnesota, the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals,” said another post on Jan. 16. “The Governor and Mayor don’t know what to do, they have totally lost control, and our currently being rendered, USELESS!”
In a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz from the United States Attorney General, Pamela Bondi, she states, “Unfortunately, you and other Minnesota officials have refused to support the men and women risking their lives to protect Americans and uphold the rule of law. ” and goes on to request that Governor Walz utilize “common sense solutions” such as “shar[ing] all of Minnesota’s records on Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programs,” “repeal[ing] the sanctuary policies,” and “ allow[ing] the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey continued to criticize ICE actions in his city in an interview with the NY Times.
“This is not about ICE doing regular ICE stuff,” Frey told the NY Times. “What we have seen feels like an invasion.”