A small stuffed turtle, a water bottle, and a blanket fill 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos’ cubby. A gray winter hat hangs from his hook. A worksheet to help him trace the letter W waits for him at his desk.
But it’s unclear when or whether Liam will be able to return for his stuffed turtle, his hat, and his W worksheet. Liam, a prekindergartener at Columbia Heights’ Valley View Elementary, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Tuesday along with his father as the two returned home from school. The prekindergartener and his father are now in ICE custody, likely at a family detention center in Texas, said Marc Prokosch, a lawyer for the family.
Liam’s detention marks the fourth ICE arrest of a student in their district this month, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said at an emotional news conference Wednesday. In the small suburban district just north of Minneapolis, more than half the students are Latino.
Stenvik described the scene where ICE agents took Liam from his driveway, as another adult living in the home “begged” agents to let him care for Liam and was refused.
“Instead, the agent took the child out of the still-running car, led him to the door, and directed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, in order to see if anyone else was home, essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” she said.
Valley View Elementary student Liam Conejo Ramos was detained with his father as the two returned home from school on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026.
Liam’s middle-school brother returned home to a missing father, a missing little brother and a terrified mother, she said.
“This family is following U.S. legal parameters and has an active asylum case with no order of deportation,” Stenvik said. “I have viewed the legal paperwork with my own eyes. Why detain a 5-year-old? You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about Liam’s detention or ICE’s policies regarding detaining children.
Ella Sullivan, Liam’s elementary teacher, had tears in her eyes as she described Liam.
“He’s a bright young student, and he’s so kind and loving,” she said. “He’s very friendly. He comes into class every day, and he just brightens the room. His friends haven’t asked about him yet, but I know that they’ll catch on.”
Valley View Elementary teacher Ella Sullivan, crying while listening to her colleagues talking about her student Liam Conejo Ramos, who was taken by ICE. Credit: Dymanh Chhoun | Sahan Journal
Liam was not the only Columbia Heights student detained Tuesday, Stenvik said. Also on Tuesday, a 17-year-old high school student on the way to school was taken from a car alone, with no parents present, “by armed, masked agents,” she said.
Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old fourth-grader and her mother were taken by ICE agents on the way to elementary school, Stenvik said. And last week, ICE agents “pushed their way into an apartment,” detaining a 17-year-old Columbia Heights High School student and her mother.
ICE agents have also come onto school property, Stenvik said. On Wednesday afternoon, just hours before the news conference, agents drove onto Columbia Heights High School property, approached the loading dock, and were told to leave by school administrators, Stenvik said.
“The sense of safety in our community and around our schools is shaken, and our hearts are shattered,” Stenvik said.
Mary Granlund, the school board chair, thanked the community for their support. The school had received more than $10,000 in donated food for a school food shelf on Friday alone, a spokesperson said later.
“We are focused on providing education and care to our students during these incredibly difficult times,” Granlund said. “However, right now, the safety and wellbeing of our students is our top priority, whether it’s arriving, leaving or even attending events like basketball games or concerts or school plays.”
Stenvik said two of the four detained students were being held in Texas, but she did not know where the other two were.
“I demand justice for 5-year-old Liam,” Stenvik said. “I want to know where my students are being detained, and what are the conditions? I remember seeing the images in 2018 of children being kept in cages. That was not OK then, and it is not OK now.”
An ICE agent holds onto the backpack of Valley View Elementary student Liam Conejo Ramos, as he is being detained on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in a photo by Ali Daniels provided by Columbia Heights school officials. Credit: Dymanh Chhoun | Sahan Journal
Stenvik said the district has seen decreased attendance in recent weeks, with a third of students missing on one recent day, and that schools have had to hold recess indoors when ICE agents are nearby. She said that the district was expanding its online learning options to elementary students and emphasized that schools have the right to educate children safely.
“Our children should not continue to be targeted by masked agents brandishing large weapons in our neighborhoods and at their bus stops,” she said. “We need a diplomatic pathway out of this situation.”
Granlund asked people to contact their congressional representatives to negotiate an “immediate and peaceful resolution to this occupation.”
Prokosch, the family’s lawyer, said he was exploring filing a habeas corpus petition to release Liam from detention. He said that the family had filed for asylum following a legal process.
“I want to point out that they have done every single thing the right way that they were supposed to,” he said. “Every step of their immigration process has been doing what they’ve been asked to do. So this is, as we’ve all said, just cruelty.”
