ICE just detained a 5-year-old child. Factcheck: The illegal abandoned their child. ICE rescued the child.

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Outrage after ICE detains boy, 5, in Minnesota as lawyer claims agents used him as ‘bait’
Four Columbia Heights students have been detained by federal agents in recent weeks, including a five-year-old whose school district says was used to draw family members from home.

ICE has sparked condemnation after reports that a five-year-old boy had been detained in Minnesota and used as ‘bait’. The Columbia Heights Public School District has said four of its students have been detained by federal agents in four separate incidents over the past two weeks.

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/ice-arrests-immigration-school-children-1633216

Factcheck:

The incident is confirmed by multiple sources: ICE detained 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father in Minnesota on Jan 20, 2026, while returning from preschool. They were pursuing asylum legally. ICE states the father was the target, not the child, and denies using the boy as “bait.” Similar detentions of other students reported. Sources: KARE11, BBC, NBC News.

According to ICE and DHS statements, the father fled on foot during the arrest, abandoning the child. An officer stayed with the 5-year-old for safety while others apprehended the father. Both are now in custody in Texas. The family has an active asylum claim. Sources: DHS, ABC News, CNN.

School officials say:

The child got out of the car after preschool.

He walked toward the house.

ICE agents stopped him and told him to knock on the door to see who else was inside.

This is why the district used the word “bait.”

This is the version quoted in the Yahoo/CBC article.

DHS/ICE’s version (the denial) DHS says:

The father fled and left the child behind.

Agents secured the child for safety.

They deny using him to knock or as “bait.”

They say the child was kept outside because they were conducting an enforcement operation.

They do not confirm that agents told the child to knock on the door.

For someone to confidently claim “ICE told the child to knock on the door”, they would need to be:

close enough to hear the conversation,

in a position to see the interaction,

and not blocked by vehicles, distance, or agents.