ICE Detained a 5-Year-Old and Used Him as ‘Bait’ 

On Tuesday, five-year-old Liam Ramos was arriving home with his father from his preschool in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, when ICE agents detained them on their driveway. An agent then used the child to try to lure other family members from the home. Ramos and his father were subsequently transported to a facility in Texas. At the time of publishing, their lawyer believes they are in a holding facility in San Antonio.

In one photo of the encounter, Liam stands wearing a blue-knit hat with flappy, rabbit ears, a masked agent standing by his side. In another, an officer is holding his Spiderman backpack.

According to Stenvik, another adult who was living in Ramos’ home was outside when ICE arrived, and “begged the agents to let him take care of the small child, and was refused.” “Instead, the agent took the child out of the still-running car, led him to the door, and directed him to knock on the door asking to be let in in order to see if anyone else was home, essentially using a five-year-old as bait.” His older brother, a middle school student, was not home at the time.

The Ramos family is currently seeking asylum in the U.S. and has zero deportation orders. Ramos and his father arrived via a “port of entry” and, according to the family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch, “have been following the legal process perfectly.” In response—and amid rising criticism about the way the federal agents just snatched a literal child—the DHS said on Thursday that the two were picked up during a “targeted operation,” that Ramos’ father “fled on foot,” that “ICE did NOT target a child,” and that Ramos was “ABANDONED.” It also says that under ICE policy, parents can ask to be removed with their children or designate a “safe person” for them. Not like there was literally a person right there to do just that, but OK.

And while ICE claims Ramos’ father was the main target, nothing is adding up. Stevnik, who says she’d seen the legal paperwork with her “own eyes,” said “the family did everything they were supposed to in accordance with how the rules have been set out. They did not come here illegally, they are not criminals.” Prokosch added, “Every step of their immigration process has been doing what they’ve been asked to do. And so this is just… cruelty.”

According to Prokosch, it’s “probably not” illegal to detain a kindergarten student, but “just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s moral…Yes, they may have the legal authority to detain a 5-year-old… but why?” Currently, he is mulling a habeas corpus position to push for Ramos’ release.

Under Trump’s mass deportation campaign, ICE has been wielding a Nazi-like strategy to detain random individuals (many of whom are U.S. citizens and a vast majority of whom have no violent convictions) and bludgeon the asylum process. As of January 8, NBC predicts nearly 69,000 migrants are in ICE custody. Most recently, ICE gods have been working overtime in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, as part of Operation Metro Surge—which became a flashpoint after Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent.

Stenvik says that, because of Operation Metro Surge, nearly a third of students in her district have stayed home in recent weeks out of fear—which, in part, inspired her to speak to reporters in the first place. “Our children are traumatized. The sense of safety in our community and around our schools is shaken,” she said. “I just thought someone has to hear the story. They’re taking children.”

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