Did MN ICE deport a 5 yo child to Texas

1. What happened — the basic sequence reported

Multiple local and national outlets reported that on Jan. 20, federal immigration officers detained a 5‑year‑old boy identified as Liam Conejo Ramos in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, seizing him in his driveway as he returned from preschool and taking him and his father into custody; the family’s lawyer and school officials say both were then transported to a Texas detention center ^{[1] [4] [5]}.

2. How news organizations and the school framed it

Columbia Heights Public Schools officials described the incident as part of a broader surge of enforcement that has left families “shattered,” saying four students from the district have recently been detained and alleging the 5‑year‑old was used as “bait” to reach other relatives; the district and the family’s lawyer have emphasized that the family has an active asylum claim and no order of deportation ^{[6] [7] [3]}.

3. Government response and a competing account

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE pushed back on the notion that agents targeted the child, saying it is ICE policy to give parents choices about removal with children and that the child was not singled out for enforcement; DHS officials have described circumstances suggesting the child was temporarily left in the custody of an agent because a parent fled the scene, language echoed in a White House/DHS pushback summarized by media outlets ^{[8] [5]}.

4. Where the child and father were taken — the Texas connection

Multiple outlets, citing school officials and the family’s attorney, reported the father and son were transported to a Texas family detention facility — outlets specifically name Dilley as where they are being held per the lawyer’s account — and describe them being in a family holding cell rather than immediately returned to another country ^{[2] [4] [9]}.

5. Legal status versus “deportation” — why wording matters

Reporting uniformly distinguishes detention and transfer from an executed deportation: officials and advocates stress the family has a pending asylum case and no removal order, which means the federal action described in the coverage is involuntary detention and relocation to a Texas processing/detention site, not evidence that the child was expelled from the United States at that time ^{[3] [2] [10]}.

6. Conflicting narratives, political context and potential agendas

Advocates and school leaders present this as an overreach and a politically charged enforcement tactic that traumatizes children ^{[7] [11]}, while DHS and supportive political voices frame the arrests as part of lawful enforcement of immigration laws and contend agents followed policy ^[8]. Coverage from both progressive and conservative outlets reflects those agendas, meaning some headlines emphasize the image of “snatching preschoolers” while others stress procedural justifications and policy compliance ^{[11] [8]}.

7. Limits of current reporting and unanswered questions

Available reporting documents the detention and transfer to Texas but does not show a final removal order or completed deportation; public sources to date do not provide court records or DHS administrative disposition confirming a deportation decision, and the family’s asylum case status beyond statements from lawyers and school officials remains unverified in the cited coverage ^{[3] [4]}.

Bottom line

Based on contemporaneous reporting, ICE detained the 5‑year‑old in Minnesota and transported him with his father to a Texas family detention facility — a move widely reported as custody and transfer rather than an executed deportation — while federal officials dispute aspects of the local account and emphasize policy context; no source in the provided reporting documents that the child had been formally deported from the United States at the time of these stories ^{[1] [2] [8]}.