Vice President JD Vance confirmed Thursday that a five-year-old boy was among those detained by federal agents during a massive immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, stirring outrage in the northern city and across the US.
As "the father of a five-year-old" himself, Vance acknowledged he was stunned by news of the child's predicament at first.
"I think to myself 'Oh, my God, this is terrible. How did we arrest a five-year-old?'" Vance said Thursday, pivoting to say he then did more research and changed his mind because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained the child after his father ran from immigration agents.
"Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?"
More broadly, Vance blamed local leaders for disorder on a visit to the troubled midwestern state, which has been rocked by increasingly tense protests since federal agents shot and killed US citizen Renee Good on January 7.
The child's detention came as the US attorney general announced Thursday the arrests of three activists accused of disrupting a St. Paul church service in a protest, accusing a pastor at the church of working for ICE.
Thousands of federal agents have been deployed to the Democratic-led state, as the Trump administration presses its campaign to deport what it says are millions of illegal immigrants across the country.
The arrests of lawyer and social activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly in connection with a Sunday protest at Cities Church in the state capital St. Paul, were announced by Attorney General Pam Bondi on X.
Bondi said Armstrong "allegedly played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack on Cities Church."
Videos of that protest showed dozens of demonstrators chanting "ICE out!" in the church.
Amid growing local anger over the use of pepper spray, tear gas and other forceful tactics adopted by ICE in the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Vance defended the conduct of ICE and called on protesters to be peaceful.
"Yes, protest. Protest me. Protest our immigration policy, but do it peacefully. If you assault a law enforcement officer the Trump administration and the Department of Justice is going to prosecute you," Vance said, flanked by ICE officers and vehicles.
- Plight of a 5-year-old -
The latest uproar over ICE's tactics has been over the ICE detention on Tuesday of a five-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father -- one of at least four children detained in the same Minneapolis school district this month, according to administrators, local media have reported.
Ramos and his father are now held in San Antonio, Texas, in the custody of Homeland Security authorities, the family's lawyer, Marc Prokosch, was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.
Prokosch said they are not US citizens but have followed the legal process in applying for asylum, in Minneapolis which is a sanctuary city, meaning police do not cooperate with federal immigration sweeps.
Vance claimed such local efforts were hindering ICE efforts.
"The lack of cooperation between state and local officials makes it harder for us to do our job and turns up the temperature," Vance said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told a news conference that he agreed with Vance that people should protest peacefully.
But he complained that the influx of 3,000 federal agents in the city felt like an "occupation" and that agents were "terrorizing people," the Minnesota Star Tribune reported Thursday.
Minnesota has sought a temporary restraining order for the ICE operation in the state which, if granted by a federal judge, would pause the sweeps. There will be a hearing on the application Monday.
The officer who fired the shots that killed Good, Jonathan Ross, has neither been suspended nor charged with any crime. Trump and his officials quickly defended his actions as being legitimately made in self-defense.
The federal immigration sweeps in Minneapolis have occurred amid a highly politicized fraud investigation in Minnesota.
