US immigration agents this month detained at least four children, including a 5-year-old, from a school district in the Minneapolis region of Minnesota, district officials said on Thursday.
The report comes amid concerns about the scope and tactics of federal law enforcement agents who are part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The actions led to the dispatch of 3,000 agents to Minnesota’s largest city.
Trump has described the crackdown as a battle to drive violent criminals out of the US.
“Why detain a 5-year-old?” asked Zena Stenvik, superintendent of the Columbia Heights school district, at a press conference on Wednesday. “Don’t tell me that this child will be classified as a violent criminal.”
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin denied on Thursday that a child was targeted in the action.
“ICE did NOT target a child,” she said in a statement.
Continues after advertising
On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a raid to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who was in the country illegally, she said. When agents approached, Conejo Arias fled the scene, abandoning his son, he added.
“To ensure the child’s safety, one of our ICE agents remained with her while the other agents detained Conejo Arias,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
She said parents who are targeted in ICE raids are asked whether they want to be deported with their children or whether they would prefer their children to be placed in the care of a person they designate.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not commented on the school district’s claim that other children were also detained by ICE.
At the press conference, Stenvik said 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken with his father to the driveway after being picked up from preschool on Tuesday.
The same day, she reported that a 17-year-old high school student was taken by armed, masked officers on his way to school. Neither parent was present at the time, he said.
Continues after advertising
Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old girl was detained by ICE agents on her way to elementary school, and she and her mother are still in a detention center in Texas, Stenvik said. Last week, a 17-year-old high school student was detained with her mother by ICE agents in their apartment, she added.
