ICE authorities detained at least four children including a 5-year-old from a Minneapolis-area school district this month, school district officials said on Thursday.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, however denied that a child was targeted. “ICE did NOT target a child," she said in a statement.
The school district officials claims comes days after the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman, Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minnesota and amid concerns over US President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration, which has seen at least 3,000 officers deployed to Minnesota's largest city, as per a report by Reuters.
What ICE officers said?
As per the DHS spokeswoman, Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) conducted an operation on Tuesday, 20 January (local time) to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who was in the country illegally. As agents approached, Arias fled the scene, leaving his child behind.
"For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias," McLaughlin said in a statement.
She claimed parents targeted in ICE operations are asked if they want to be removed with their children or have them placed with a person designated by the parents.
DHS, however, did not comment on the school district's assertion that other children have also been detained by ICE.
What school authorities said about the detention?
"Why detain a 5-year-old?" Zena Stenvik, the Columbia Heights Public Schools district superintendent, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal," Reuters quoted Stenvik as saying.
Donald Trump has repeatedly described his administration's crackdown on immigration as a battle to drive ‘violent criminals’ out of the United States.
At the news conference, Stenvik said Liam Conejo Ramos – aged 5-years-old – was taken with his father in their driveway after having been picked up from preschool on Tuesday.
Which other children have been detained?
Besides 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, the school district superintendent further said that the same day, a 17-year-old high school student was taken by armed and masked agents while on the way to school. No parents were present at the time, she said.
Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old was taken by ICE agents on her way to elementary school and she and her mother are still in a Texas detention center, Stenvik said.
Last week, a 17-year-old high school student was detained with her mother by ICE agents at their apartment, she said.
