Have there been anyone detained by ice in a public school

1. What the schools report: multiple students taken during school‑related moments

Columbia Heights district leaders say four students were detained by ICE in recent weeks, naming a 5‑year‑old who was taken in the family driveway after preschool, a 10‑year‑old who was taken while going to school with her mother, and two 17‑year‑olds, and they describe agents following buses and appearing at parking lots and school property during the operations ^{[1] [2] [6]}. School officials and superintendents pressed that offers by neighbors and school staff to care for the young child were refused and that the child was flown to a Texas family detention center with his father, framing the episodes as traumatising for students and families ^{[7] [8]}.

2. How federal sources frame the incidents: targeted adults, not schools

Department of Homeland Security and ICE spokespeople asserted the operations were aimed at particular adults and deny that ICE “raids” or targets schools to arrest children, saying arrests follow lawful, targeted enforcement and that children are not intentionally targeted at schools ^{[3] [4]}. DHS messaging emphasizes public‑safety rationales and stresses that officers do not go to schools to make arrests, an explicit rebuttal to school leaders’ framing ^[3].

3. Conflicting narratives about tactics and intent

Independent reporting records starkly different characterizations: school leaders and witnesses say agents used a 5‑year‑old to knock on a door and declined to leave him with other adults, while DHS statements say the child’s father “abandoned” the child when approached and that ICE did not target the child—an account that highlights a direct factual dispute over what occurred at the scene ^{[4] [5]}. Lawyers for the family and local advocates say the family were asylum applicants with no removal order, underscoring disagreement over whether enforcement was necessary or appropriate ^{[8] [5]}.

4. The broader pattern and limits of available reporting

Multiple outlets report Columbia Heights as the locus of several recent detentions of students and describe at least four children affected, but the sources do not present verified evidence of ICE conducting arrests inside classrooms or routinely entering school buildings to seize children; they do document arrests occurring in school‑linked contexts such as driveways, school routes, and parking areas ^{[9] [10] [1]}. Reporting also notes legal and factual nuances—who had custody offers, immigration status claims, and precise law‑enforcement explanations—that remain contested or unverified in public records cited here ^{[8] [6]}.

5. Stakes, narratives and possible agendas

School officials and immigrant advocates emphasize trauma and community safety to spotlight what they call over‑aggressive tactics and to mobilize local resistance, while DHS and ICE messaging aims to reassure the public and justify enforcement as targeted against adults who pose risks; each side’s framing serves institutional interests—schools highlighting student welfare, DHS emphasizing enforcement legitimacy—so readers should weigh both accounts and the evidentiary gaps reported ^{[7] [3] [4]}.

6. Bottom line: yes — students have been detained in school‑related circumstances, but the claim “ICE raids schools” is disputed

Contemporary reporting documents that at least four Columbia Heights students were detained by immigration authorities in situations tied to school routines, including a 5‑year‑old taken after preschool, but federal officials deny targeting schools and contest aspects of the local accounts, and the available articles do not conclusively show systematic arrests inside classrooms; the truth combines verified detentions of students with unresolved disputes over tactics, intent and policy ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.