"He Is Just A Baby": Kamala Harris vs Team Trump Over 5-Year-Old's Detention

Wearing a blue hat and a Spider-Man backpack, Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old preschool boy, was returning home when US immigration agents took him along with his father to a detention facility in Texas. Liam is the fourth child to be detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in recent weeks, sparking a row over US President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants.

The Ecuadorean boy and his father have been living in the US legally as asylum applicants, an attorney representing the family told the news agency Reuters.

"Outraged" Democrat Kamala Harris came out in support of the boy and his family. Sharing a picture of the boy and one from the moment he was detained, Harris wrote, "Liam Ramos is just a baby. He should be at home with his family, not used as bait by ICE and held in a Texas detention centre. I am outraged, and you should be too."

Liam Ramos is just a baby. He should be at home with his family, not used as bait by ICE and held in a Texas detention center.

I am outraged, and you should be too. pic.twitter.com/djr2z1AG0N

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 22, 2026

When asked if he is proud of how the Trump administration is carrying out a crackdown on immigrants, Vice President JD Vance said he is "proud of enforcing the country's laws."

Talking specifically about the schoolboy, Vance said he is the father of a five-year-old and thought to himself: "Oh my god. This is terrible. How did we arrest a five-year-old?"

Vance clarified that the boy was only detained, not arrested.

"I do a little bit more follow-up research, and what I find is that the 5-year-old was not arrested, that his dad was an illegal alien, and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran... Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the US," Vance said.

.@VP: "I do a little bit more follow-up research, and what I find is that the 5-year-old was not arrested, that his dad was an illegal alien, and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father RAN... Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death?" https://t.co/wyOXeMhWIt pic.twitter.com/b9xQtmgFtR

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 22, 2026

"Did Not Target A Child": US Homeland Security

In a statement on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the Department of Homeland Security said, "ICE did NOT target a child. The child was ABANDONED."

The ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, "an illegal alien from Ecuador who was released into the US by the Biden administration."

According to the ICE, Adrian Alexander, the father of a five-year-old, fled on foot, abandoning his child as soon as immigration agents approached him. 

"For the child's safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias," the Department said.

The Other Version

Federal agents took Liam from a running car in the family's driveway, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters. The officers told him to knock on the door to his home to see if other people were inside, "essentially using a five-year-old as bait," she said.

The father told the child's mother, who was inside the home and has not been named, not to open the door, Stenvik told reporters. This was likely to avoid another detention.

School officials, an adult from the family home and neighbours all offered to take the boy, according to witnesses, including Mary Granlund, the chair of the Columbia Heights school board, as reported by Reuters.

The family, who came to the US in 2024, has an active asylum case and had not been ordered to leave the country, Stenvik said.

Who Is Liam Conejo Ramos?

Liam Conejo Ramos is a five-year-old preschool student at the Columbia Heights Public Schools. Ella Sullivan, Liam's teacher, described him as "kind and loving."

"His classmates miss him," she said. "And all I want is for him to be safe and back here."

Columbia Heights Public Schools has five schools and about 3,400 students from pre-K to 12th grade, according to its website. Most come from immigrant families, Stenvik said.