COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. (FOX 9) -
Columbia Heights school officials say a 5-year-old boy was used as "bait" for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain him and his father.
Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said that four students have been detained by ICE.
One of the students, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, was detained Tuesday afternoon. Ramos had just arrived home from preschool when he and his father were apprehended in their driveway.
Stenvik says another adult who lives in the home with Ramos "begged" agents to let them take care of the child, but was refused.
Agents then took Ramos out of the still-running vehicle and led to the front door of his home, Stenvik said. The agents then told him to knock on the door, asking to be let in.
Stenvik said the 5-year-old was "essentially used as bait."
The boy's middle school-aged brother then came home to see his father and little brother missing. The boys' mother was not detained by ICE.