Did ICE Use a 5-Year-Old as ‘Bait’?

On Tuesday of this week, ICE approached an immigrant from Ecuador who it was targeting for deportation. What happened next has become a story of great contention with activists and Democratic officials claiming a 5-year-old child was used as bait and then kidnapped while ICE officials are telling a very different story.

The boy’s name is Liam Conejo Ramos and this photo of him has been circulating online. Here it’s being spread by DNC Chair Ken Martin.

ICE detained a 5-year-old child in Minnesota to use as “bait.”

An innocent child.

America, let this sink in. This is what the government is doing right in front of our eyes. pic.twitter.com/KQ7FWLoEEy

— Ken Martin (@kenmartin73) January 22, 2026

Martin wasn’t alone in using this hook to share the story.

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

Enforcing the law is one thing.

Terrorizing a population, using children as pawns, is another.

My heart aches for Liam Ramos and his family.https://t.co/Y1pkUvBilT pic.twitter.com/TsppVxrX2e

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 22, 2026

So what really happened here? Here’s how the Washington Post reported it yesterday.

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, whom the Department of Homeland Security identified as Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias in an emailed statement, were detained in their driveway Tuesday afternoon, just as they were returning from the child’s school, according to a news release from Columbia Heights Public Schools.

The father fled on foot when ICE officers approached him, DHS said. “For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” it added.

After detaining the father, ICE officers then asked Liam to knock on the door to see if any other people were inside the home, “using a 5-year-old as bait,” according to the school district.

Another adult living in the home, who was outside at the time, “begged the agents” to leave the child with them, the school district said. ICE agents refused.

No one disputes that Adrian Arias fled the scene, leaving his child in the driveway. And no one disputes that ICE agents took the child to the door of the house. But the characterization of ICE using him as “bait” is disputed. This comes from someone at the school district who assumed Liam Ramos was brought to the door so that his mother would open the door at which point she would also be arrested by ICE. But ICE disputes that. Here’s DHS’s response to the post by Ken Martin denying the child was used as “bait.”

You’re lying for clicks yet again.

ICE did not, and has never, “used a child as bait.” The child was ABANDONED.

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… https://t.co/bIdW7Wmx3j

— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) January 22, 2026

Earlier this morning, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called this story a “horrific smear.” She said ICE tried to get his mother to take custody of the child but she refused.

This is a horrific smear pushed by the media and anti-ICE activists.

The child was ABANDONDED by his father, and the alleged mother REFUSED to take custody of her own child. Our law enforcement took care of the child, got him McDonald’s and played him his favorite music to… pic.twitter.com/A6u9Wi9rfZ

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 23, 2026

Did the mother really refuse to take custody of her son? CNN has a story up today suggesting that’s true.

DHS also said officers “made multiple attempts to get the mother inside the house to take custody of her child. Officers even assured her that they would NOT take her into custody. She refused to accept custody of the child.”

But Liam’s mother, who is pregnant and also has a teenage son, was “terrified” of the agents outside her door, said Pastor Sergio Amezcua, who has been helping the mother since her husband and son were taken away.

“ICE agents were trying to use the baby to get her to come out of her house, but the neighbors … advised her not to do it,” fearing she would be detained, Amezcua said.

Pator Amezcua was not present at the house. And the “neighbors” who were telling the mother not to open the door apparently included the boy’s father: That’s according to a school board member named Mary Granlund who was driving by at the time this all happneed.

She described a commotion at the scene, with onlookers telling agents: “What are you doing? Don’t take the child!”…

When someone recognized the school board chair, Granlund said, they yelled: “The school is here! They can take the child. You don’t have to take them.”

Liam’s mother looked out the window, Granlund said, but Liam’s father was yelling, “Please do not open the door! Don’t open the door!”

To sum all this up, ICE went looking for this individual from Ecuador who they say is here illegally. He and his son were outside in the driveway and when iCE approached the father ran for it. ICE then brought the boy to the door and asked the mother to open the door and take the child. At some point the father was captured and he and other people were telling the mother not to open the door for the boy. At this point, ICE took the father and son into custody and left (this is what is being described as kidnapping) and both were flown to a detention center for families in Texas.

Dad ran for it. Mom refused to open the door for him but ICE is to blame. That’s how the left sees this.

There is also some debate about why ICE was targeting Adrian Arias in the first place. It doesn’t appear that he has any criminal history or pending charges so it wasn’t that. His attorney has claimed he followed the legal process to enter the country under the Biden administration but that is also being disputed by DHS, which claims they have no record of his entry.

NEW: @FoxNews has obtained a DHS photo of ADRIAN ALEXANDER CONEJO ARIAS, the father of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos. A senior DHS official tells FOX they have no record of the family entering the U.S. via the Biden era CBP One cell phone app as the family attorney claimed. FOX is… pic.twitter.com/RmtcRhizFF

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 23, 2026

Despite the fact that this story seems a lot more complicated than some activists initially claimed, the media has mostly gone all in on their framing of the story.

“There is no justifying this,” read the title of USA Today columnist Rex Huppke’s column. “A family separated, a child traumatized: The cruelty of ICE knows no bounds.” ICE’s tactics “can only be described as pure evil,” Minnesota Senator Tina Smith averred. Donald Trump and company “don’t see these families as people, and that’s exactly how they’re treating them,” California Congressman Jimmy Gomez concluded. “How many children is ICE doing this to?” Virginia Representative James Walkinshaw asked. “We need an investigation, now.” The Democratic Party’s official social media organ agreed. “These monsters are sick,” read its denunciation of the law enforcement officers who used a child as “human bait.”

An equally accurate headline for this story would be “Illegal immigrants flees ICE, leaving 5-year-old, then begs mother not to take him inside.” Would that be fair to the father? Maybe not but it’s as fair as the actual headlines the media is running are to ICE agents.

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