Did ICE arrest Liam Conejo Ramos
Executive summary
Yes — multiple independent news organizations and local officials report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took five‑year‑old Liam Conejo Ramos into federal custody on January 20, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, and that he was transferred with his father to a family detention facility in Texas [1] [2] [3]. The circumstances of the arrest are contested: school and family sources say Liam was detained at the driveway and later moved to Dilley, while Department of Homeland Security officials say the child was not a target and that agents cared for him after his father fled [2] [3] [4].
1. The central fact: Liam was taken into ICE custody and moved to Texas
Reporting from major outlets and the Columbia Heights school district consistently describes Liam being taken by federal immigration agents on January 20 and then held at the South Texas family residential center (also called the Dilley facility) alongside his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, with lawmakers and advocates later visiting them there [2] [3] [5].
2. Conflicting official narratives about how and why he was taken
Local school and family accounts say ICE agents detained the boy as he returned from preschool, that he was led to the family’s door during the operation, and that adults at the scene offered to care for him yet he was still taken by agents [1] [3] [6]. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE offered a different account, saying the agency’s mission targeted the father, that the father fled and left the child behind, and that officers remained with the child for his safety — language insisting the child was not a deliberate target [2] [4].
3. The case has already produced judicial intervention and political attention
A federal judge temporarily blocked the removal of Liam and his father after legal filings and public pressure, and Democratic lawmakers visited the Dilley facility to press for the child’s release — developments that reinforce that federal custody occurred and that it triggered both legal restraint and political protests [2] [5] [7].
4. Reporting on Liam’s condition and symbolic impact
Multiple outlets and local officials report that Liam was ill and described as lethargic or “not doing great” while detained, with his mother and school leaders raising alarms about his health and well‑being in the facility; these descriptions came after Representative Joaquin Castro and others made in‑person visits [8] [9] [5]. Images of the boy in a blue knit hat and Spider‑Man backpack circulated widely and became a focal point for criticism of ICE tactics and the administration’s enforcement strategy [3] [1].
5. What remains disputed or unknown from the reporting
Critical details about whether agents intentionally used the child as “bait” to draw other family members out, what precisely occurred the moment the father encountered agents, and the full sequence that led to Liam being moved out of Minnesota are contested across sources: school officials and the family say the child was used in the operation, while ICE and DHS deny targeting the child and assert the father abandoned him — reporting documents both versions but does not produce an independently verified, unambiguous timeline that reconciles them [1] [2] [4]. Public records and court materials cited in the coverage confirm custody and transfer but, in the reporting available, do not provide definitive, forensic proof resolving the conflicting witness and agency claims [6] [10].