Images of five-year-old Liam Ramos, a preschooler detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, have sparked outrage over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The photographs, released by Columbia Heights public school district, show Liam standing beside a black vehicle with an adult figure behind him, and another at a door with a masked agent.
Officials from the school district believe Liam was used as bait to lure adults in his family home to open the door for arrest. The Department of Homeland Security claims he was held for protective purposes after his father fled. The boy and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, an asylum seeker from Ecuador, were taken to a detention centre in San Antonio.
Liam’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch, stated that the family entered the US legally at a designated crossing point and were following a recognised asylum process, with no deportation order against them. The incident comes amid a series of aggressive ICE operations in Minnesota, including the fatal shooting of Renee Good on 7 January.
Zena Stenvik, superintendent of Columbia Heights public schools, noted that Liam is the fourth child in the area detained by ICE in three weeks, including a 10-year-old girl taken on her way to school. The images have drawn comparisons to iconic photos of children in crisis, such as Alan Kurdi and Elián González.
