A top federal official has accused the father of a 5-year-old detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement of “abandoning his child,” despite school officials saying the boy’s mother was home and begged for him.
Marcos Charles, the top ICE official in Minneapolis, accused Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias of abandoning his son, Liam, when fleeing from federal authorities in Minneapolis earlier this week.
“He and his child were in a vehicle. Arias fled from law enforcement on foot, abandoning his child in the middle of winter in a vehicle. One of our officers stayed behind with that child, while other officers apprehended his father,” Charles said at a press conference Friday morning.
“After conducting the arrest, my officers, they cared for him, took him to get something to eat from a drive through restaurant, and spent hours ensuring he was taken care of again my officers did that, not his father,” Charles said.
Charles’ account of the detention of the 5-year-old boy is drastically different than what the family’s attorney and schools officials said occurred.
ICE agents stand next to Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old that school officials said was detained in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 20, 2026.
Rachel James/Reuters
“My officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family. Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, the people inside refused to take him in and open the door,” Charles said. “My officers do the right thing, no matter how difficult or how long it takes throughout the day. “
Charles also said agents were not targeting the child.
“We will enforce the law as it’s written, but we will go above and beyond to reunite families, because that is who we are,” Charles said. “This is the human side of the job that my officers do. They are family men and women. They have children of their own. They sacrifice everything for their families. I know for a fact that they were heartbroken to see the child’s own family leave him behind.”
The 5-year-old was apprehended by immigration officials shortly after arriving home from preschool while his father was in their driveway, according to school officials.
“Another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let them take care of the small child, but was refused,” officials from Conejo Ramos’ school claimed in a statement.
“Instead, the agent took the child out of the still-running vehicle, led him to the door, and directed him to knock — asking to be let in to see if anyone else was home — essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said.
The family has a pending asylum case and no order of deportation, officials at Conejo Ramos’ school said in a statement.
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, is detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after arriving home from preschool, Jan. 20, 2026, in a Minneapolis suburb.
Ali Daniels via AP
The family’s attorney, at a press conference Thursday, said the 5-year-old and his father “did everything right.”
“Liam and his dad did enter the United States at a port of entry to seek asylum through the CBP One app,” attorney Marc Prokosch said. “They used the app, they made an appointment. They came to the border and presented themselves to Customs and Border Protection. They were just trying to secure safety from persecution for their family from their home country.”
The family’s attorney said Thursday that boy and his father are at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, about an hour south of South Antonio, Texas.
Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol’s commander at large for Minneapolis, told reporters that the agency’s members are “experts in dealing with children.”
“Over those past four years, hundreds of thousands of children are trafficked across that border. Guess who they came into contact with? Sometimes, who was the very first law enforcement agency or American citizen that they saw? Us. Border Patrol, followed by our counterparts at immigration and customs enforcement,” Bovino said.
