A school superintendent has voiced concerns following the alleged detention of four children from the same school district by ICE officials.
On January 7 in Minnesota, Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross shortly after she had dropped off her six-year-old at a school in Minneapolis.
Reports from January 14 tell of ICE agents dining at a Mexican restaurant in Willmar, only to return hours later to detain employees after the restaurant had closed for the evening.
Recent reports indicate that four children from the Columbia Heights school district in a Minneapolis suburb have been detained by ICE, among them five-year-old preschooler Liam Ramos.
Liam had just returned from school with his father when they were detained by ICE officials, according to Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of Liam’s school, as reported by The Guardian.
Superintendent Stenvik has since elaborated on the circumstances of the detention and expressed her concerns for the other children involved.
On January 6, a 10-year-old student was reportedly taken by ICE alongside her mother while on their way to school, Stenvik stated.
Another Columbia Heights student, aged 17, was reportedly detained on the same day as Liam.
The superintendent claimed that the student was taken by agents who were ‘armed and masked’ without parental presence.
Additionally, on January 14, Stenvik noted that a 17-year-old high school student and her mother were also detained by ICE.
Stenvik accused ICE agents of “roaming our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lots and taking our kids.”
She expressed that the children are ‘traumatized’ and the community deeply ‘shaken.’
Superintendent Stenvik declared, “I can speak on behalf of all school staff when I say our hearts are shattered. After our fourth student was taken yesterday, I just thought someone has to hear the story. They’re taking children.”
However, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, responded by denying that ICE had ‘target[ed] a child.’
In a statement released on January 21, McLaughlin referred to Liam’s father as an ‘illegal alien’ and indicated the operation was designed to ‘target’ him.
She stated, “ICE did NOT target a child.”
McLaughlin accused Liam’s father of ‘abandoning’ the child and defended the actions of ‘one of our ICE officers,’ who ‘remained with the child’ for his ‘safety.’
The statement continued: “Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates.”
Marc Prokosch, the attorney for Liam’s family, believes that Liam and his father are still detained together.
Superintendent Stenvik questioned the decision: “Why detain a five-year-old? You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”
Prokosch highlighted that Liam’s family ‘did not come here illegally,’ providing documentation of their legal entry through an official crossing point.
He emphasized that the family ‘are not criminals’ and had ‘done everything they were supposed to in accordance with how the rules have been set out.’