Local school officials say the boy was taken with his father. A government spokeswoman denied ICE was targeting the boy.
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Pre-schooler Liam Ramos was with his father - named by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias - when Conejo Arias was approached by agents on his driveway.
In a statement posted on X, the DHS said "ICE did NOT target a child", but was conducting an operation against his father, an "illegal alien" who "abandoned" his son when approached.
Zena Stenvik, the Columbia Heights Public Schools superintendent, asked: "Why detain a 5-year-old?
"You can't tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal."
Photos provided to the BBC by the school district show a boy, identified as Liam Ramos, wearing a bunny-shaped winter hat, standing outside as an officer holds onto his backpack.
The Columbia Heights Public Schools authority described these as bystander photos. The district did not identify the individuals who took the pictures, referring to them as "known and confirmed community members".
Marc Prokosch, a lawyer representing the family, told journalists that Liam and his father were likely being held at a detention centre in Texas. School officials said that the father had an active asylum case with no deportation order.
The son had just arrived home from pre-school at the time of the apprehension, Stenvik said during a press conference on Wednesday.
Around the time of the incident, school officials were present at the Ramos house to provide support, according to the schools superintendent.
Stenvik said that ICE had recently detained a total of four students in her school district, including a 10-year-old, and two 17-year-olds.
The DHS did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment on the incident.
In its post on
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