ICE Detains Toddler and Father in Minneapolis Amid Growing Outrage Over Child Arrests
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have detained a two-year-old girl and her father in Minneapolis, according to local authorities, marking the latest in a series of child apprehensions that have sparked widespread condemnation across the city. The incident occurred as the family returned from grocery shopping, with ICE agents allegedly breaking the vehicle's window to make the arrest.
Details of the Arrest and Official Response
Council member Jason Chavez revealed that Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis and her father, Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria, were followed home by a suspicious vehicle. When they arrived at their private property, ICE agents exited the vehicle, broke the car window, and took them into custody without presenting a judicial warrant. A spokesperson for Homeland Security countered this account, stating that border patrol officers stopped the father for driving erratically with a child in the vehicle and that he refused multiple lawful commands to open his door or lower the window.
The spokesperson further claimed that the girl's mother, Deicy Villacis Ruiz, refused to take custody of her child, leading to Chloe and her father being reunited at an immigration detention facility. In response, Chavez has initiated a GoFundMe campaign with the mother's permission, which has raised over $61,000 to support the family.
Broader Pattern of Child Detentions in Minneapolis
This arrest follows the highly publicised detention of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was pictured wearing a Spider-Man backpack and blue cap as officers arrested him on his frozen driveway. Liam and his father, originally from Ecuador and seeking asylum in the United States, are among at least five Minneapolis-area children swept up in recent immigration enforcement operations under Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign.
Columbia Heights Public Schools reported that at least four students from their system were detained by immigration officers within the last week alone. In one incident two weeks ago, a 10-year-old fourth grader was taken by ICE agents while on her way to elementary school with her mother. On the same day Liam was arrested, a 17-year-old Columbia Heights High School student was apprehended by armed and masked agents without any parents present.
Educational Disruption and Community Impact
The wave of child detentions has created significant disruption across Minneapolis schools, with families, teachers, and administrators expressing alarm at the prospect of immigration agents appearing on or near campus premises. Superintendent Zena Stenvik questioned the rationale behind detaining a five-year-old during a recent news conference, emphasising the traumatic impact on young students.
This pattern extends beyond Minneapolis, with similar operations interrupting schools nationwide. In Chicago, thousands of students were marked absent as federal officers swarmed the city last year, while officers were filmed dragging a teacher out of a daycare facility in front of children. School attendance plummeted in both Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina, following increased enforcement activities in these Democratic-led cities.
Policy Changes and Political Reactions
The Trump administration has abandoned previous policies that prevented enforcement operations near sensitive locations such as school campuses, despite Homeland Security's insistence that schools are not being specifically targeted. Vice President JD Vance and ICE officials have defended the detention of young children, claiming they had no alternative when parents refused to take custody.
More than 70 Democratic members of Congress have written to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, arguing that these enforcement activities are injecting chaos and trauma into children's lives regardless of their immigration status. They warned of the harmful and lasting impact on entire communities of school-aged children, as immigration agents have engaged in tactics including firing tear gas, participating in car chases, and shooting at least one person near school premises.
As Minneapolis becomes the latest backdrop to Trump's intensified deportation efforts, the city faces mounting legal challenges and demonstrations against what many residents describe as an alarming escalation in immigration enforcement tactics affecting even the youngest members of their community.
