A viral narrative pushed by Rep. Ilhan Omar and major left-leaning media outlets claiming that ICE detained a 5-year-old boy in Minnesota has collapsed under the weight of basic facts.
According to the Gateway Pundit, the episode began when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers moved on Tuesday to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, an illegal alien from Ecuador who had been released into the countrys interior by the Biden administration despite his unlawful status. Arias, who had already been ordered deported by a federal judge, was driving with his 5-year-old son when agents approached his vehicle as part of a targeted enforcement operation.
Rather than comply with lawful instructions, Arias bolted from the car and ran on foot, leaving his young child behind in the vehicle. For the childs protection, one ICE officer stayed with the boy while other agents pursued and apprehended Arias, following standard safety protocols for minors encountered during enforcement actions.
The Department of Homeland Security later moved to correct the record after left-wing activists and media figures began circulating the claim that the child himself had been detained as a suspect. DHS emphasized on social media that the boy was never treated as a criminal target but was instead safeguarded after his father abandoned him while fleeing arrest.
Despite these facts, officials at Columbia Heights Public Schools quickly transformed the incident into a political spectacle, echoing the open-borders rhetoric common among progressive activists. Superintendent Zena Stenvik convened a news conference and demanded, Why detain a 5-year-old? before declaring, You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.
The district went further, alleging that ICE agents had used the boy as bait by having him knock on doors during the operation and claiming officers refused to leave him with another adult who supposedly begged to take custody. These unverified accusations were eagerly amplified by liberal media outlets that have long opposed robust immigration enforcement and routinely cast ICE in the worst possible light.
NPR ran the headline, ICE detains 5-year-old Minnesota boy; school leader says agents used him as bait. The Star Tribune followed with, Preschooler and three other students detained by ICE, school district leader says. The Washington Post escalated the narrative with a front-page story that repeated the school officials charges and framed the lawful arrest as part of broader chaos from ICE operations targeting migrants with children.
Somali-born Rep. Ilhan Omar, a leading voice of the progressive Squad, played a central role in driving the misinformation, posting on X that ICE had detained a child and calling the incident absolutely vile. DHS responded by quoting Omars post and issuing a blunt correction: ICE did NOT target a child. The child was ABANDONED.
DHS then laid out the sequence of events in detail: On January 20, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias an illegal alien from Ecuador who was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration. As agents approached the driver Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on footabandoning his child. For the childs safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.
The department also underscored that parents in removal proceedings are given clear options regarding their children and are not treated as helpless victims of the system. 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. This is consistent with past administrations immigration enforcement. Parents can take control of their departure and receive a free flight and $2,600 with the CBP Home app. By using the CBP Home app illegal aliens reserve the chance to come back the right legal way.
The episode highlights a familiar pattern in the Biden era: lax border and interior enforcement policies create dangerous incentives for illegal entrants, while progressive politicians and media outlets rush to vilify ICE whenever agents attempt to restore a measure of order. Instead of holding an illegal alien father accountable for abandoning his own child, the loudest voices on the left chose to smear law enforcement and mislead the publicyet another reminder of why many Americans continue to demand stronger borders, honest reporting, and a return to the firm but fair immigration posture championed by President Donald Trump.
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