An image circulating widely this week showed a visibly upset preschooler wearing an oversized hat and Spider-man backpack standing with federal immigration agents. Democrats and other radicals quickly condemned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alleging the agency had treated the child like a criminal. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) claimed ICE “treated the boy like a criminal,” while Vice President Kamala Harris wrote that the child “should be at home with his family, not used as bait by ICE and held in a Texas detention center.”
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) went further, accusing ICE of “kidnapping 5-year-olds and using them as bait” and urging the agency be defunded. The false narrative was reportedly incubated by officials at Columbia Heights Public Schools, where the child was enrolled.
During a visit to Minneapolis, Vice President JD Vance provided context. He stated that after seeing the story, he conducted follow-up research and discovered: the 5-year-old was not arrested; his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, an illegal alien from Ecuador, fled on foot when ICE attempted to arrest him in Columbia Heights on January 20; and after abandoning his child, ICE officers remained with the boy. DHS Assistant Director Marcos Charles confirmed agents took the child to a drive-thru restaurant for food and spent hours ensuring he was cared for.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin noted the boy’s alleged mother refused entry despite assurances she would not be taken into custody. Lawyer Marc Prokosch stated the boy and his father were reunited at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where parents are asked whether they want to be removed with their children or if ICE will place them with a designated safe person.
Vance emphasized that the argument ICE cannot arrest illegal aliens with children is unworkable: “That doesn’t make any sense.”
