By Rich Matthews and Aaron McNicholas
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minnesota, Jan 22 (Reuters) – U.S. immigration authorities detained at least four children including a 5-year-old from a Minneapolis-area school district this month as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, school district and city officials said on Thursday.
The Republican administration has deployed about 3,000 officers around Minnesota’s largest city, where residents have been on edge since an immigration officer shot and killed a U.S. citizen this month. Democrats and local leaders have accused federal agents of aggressive and unnecessary tactics that have left many immigrant communities afraid.
The child, Liam Conejo Ramos, aged 5, watched as masked agents took his father from the driveway of their home after the two returned from preschool on Tuesday, according to Rachel James, a Columbia Heights city council member who saw several vehicles blocking half the road near the home.
The agents then took the boy, wearing a blue hat and a Spider-Man backpack, and pointed to the back door of the house and motioned for him to knock, she said.
“I can’t imagine what was going through Liam’s mind, but I can tell you what I saw on his face. He was frozen and paralyzed,” James told Reuters on Thursday. “He was not crying, but he looked so scared.”
The Department of Homeland Security said that Liam’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, was in the country illegally but did not provide details or mention any criminal history.
Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said parents targeted in ICE operations are asked if they want their children taken with them or have them placed with a person designated by the parents.
“ICE did NOT target a child,” she said, adding that Conejo Arias fled the scene as agents approached, leaving his child behind.
CHILD TAKEN AWAY IN BLACK SUV
Neighbors in the community north of Minneapolis gathered around and offered to take the boy, including one who said they were part of the family, James said. But the agents put the child in the back seat of a black SUV and sped away, she said.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the city after weeks of outcry that followed the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good, 37, a U.S. citizen and mother of three.
“Why detain a 5-year-old?” Zena Stenvik, the Columbia Heights Public Schools district superintendent, said at a Wednesday news conference. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
Stenvik said she had seen the legal paperwork and that the family has an active asylum case with no deportation order.
Stenvik said another minor, a 17-year-old high school student, was taken on Tuesday by armed and masked agents while on the way to school. No parents were present, she said.
Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old was taken by ICE agents on her way to elementary school and she and her mother are still in a Texas detention center, Stenvik said. Last week, a 17-year-old high school student was detained with her mother by ICE agents at their apartment, she said.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington, Rich Matthews and Aaron McNicholas in Columbia Heights, Minnesota; Writing by Doina Chiacu; editing by Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama and Deepa Babington)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.