Did anybody report that Liam Conejo Ramos was arrested
Executive summary
Multiple news organizations and local officials reported that 5‑year‑old Liam Conejo Ramos was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) alongside his father during a Jan. 20, 2026 operation in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, and that both were later moved to a federal family detention facility in Texas [1] [2]. Official ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statements framed the operation as an arrest of the father, while local school officials and the family’s lawyer contested parts of that account [3] [4].
1. Multiple outlets reported the child was detained with his father
Local and national outlets—ranging from public radio to network affiliates and international press—published accounts saying Liam was taken into ICE custody with his father after arriving home from preschool, describing photographs and video of the scene and reporting that the two were transported to a family detention center in South Texas [5] [6] [2].
2. ICE and DHS described the operation as an arrest of the father and said the child was abandoned
ICE officials, including the head of the agency’s deportation branch in Minneapolis, said the enforcement action targeted Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias and that he fled on foot, abandoning his son, which prompted officers to stay with the child; ICE’s account was presented publicly in press remarks and DHS statements [3] [7].
3. School officials, the family’s attorney and witnesses offered a different narrative
Columbia Heights Public Schools leaders and the family’s lawyer told reporters that the father and son arrived together and that school staff and a neighbor tried to intervene and asked agents to let another adult care for the child, with the superintendent explicitly accusing agents of using the boy as “bait” to draw others from the home — a claim repeatedly reported by local outlets [8] [5] [1].
4. Coverage documented differing factual emphases — detention vs. arrest terminology
News stories consistently used language such as “detained by ICE” or “taken into ICE custody” when describing Liam’s status, while official communications emphasized that the enforcement action was an arrest of the father; outlets also noted that both father and son have pending immigration cases, which means there were records showing no final deportation order at the time of reporting [4] [2].
5. Follow‑on reporting tracked where the family was held and the legal context
Several outlets reported the pair were taken to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley and that Justice Department immigration records showed pending cases rather than completed deportation orders, a detail cited to explain immediate legal constraints on removal and to contextualize why advocacy and legal representatives were engaged [2] [4].
6. Political reactions and disputes over the optics were widely reported
The image of a small child in winter clothing being led by federal agents prompted sharp political response and media commentary; some federal officials defended the operation as routine enforcement and insisted the child was not targeted, while critics, school officials and commentators described the images as evidence of harmful practices — coverage captured both the official defense and the public outrage [9] [10] [11].
7. What the reporting does not resolve
The available coverage establishes that multiple reputable outlets reported Liam was detained by ICE and moved with his father to federal custody and that ICE characterized the encounter as an arrest of the father who had allegedly fled, while school officials and witnesses dispute key details; however, the assembled sources do not provide an independent, courtroom‑level adjudication of whether the father “abandoned” the child or whether agents used the child as bait beyond the conflicting statements and video/photographic evidence cited in reporting [3] [5] [1].