School district officials in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, say their sense of security is shaken and their hearts shattered after four students from the district were recently taken by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Columbia Heights Public School District says two children were taken on Tuesday, including a 17-year-old boy on his way to school. He was removed from his car and taken away.
Then in the afternoon, 5-year-old Liam Ramos was taken with his father while in their driveway after just arriving home from his preschool classroom. School officials say the child was used as bait to knock on the door and ask to be let in, letting officers see if anyone else was home.
“Why detain a 5-year-old? You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal,” said Superintendent Zena Stenvik.
The Department of Homeland Security later said that the child was not targeted by ICE, but was “abandoned” by his father. It said his father fled federal agents as they approached his vehicle, leaving the child. DHS said the father, whom they described as an illegal alien from Ecuador, was later taken into custody as other ICE officers stayed with the child.
School officials say there was an adult there who offered to take the child, but ICE did not allow that.
Federal officials said on Thursday that the boy and his father are together at an immigration processing center in Dilley, Texas.
An attorney for the Ramos family, Marc Prokosch, and the school district deny that Liam was abandoned by his father.
Prokosch said Liam and his father entered the U.S. legally from Ecuador and Liam’s father doesn’t appear to have a criminal record.
The Ecuadorian government said its consulate in Minneapolis contacted ICE as soon as it got word that Liam was being held, adding that it is “monitoring the situation of the child in order to safeguard their safety and well-being.”
Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old student in fourth grade was taken by ICE agents on her way to elementary school with her mother. During the arrest, the child called her father on the phone to tell her that ICE agents were bringing her to school. The father then came to the school to find out that both his daughter and wife had been taken.
School officials say both children and their parents are being held in a detention center in Texas. They say Liam Ramos’ family is following U.S. legal parameters and has an active asylum case with no order of deportation.
The school officials also said they don’t know what happened. They want the public to get involved as this is happening to students all across the state of Minnesota.
“We are asking to please reach out to your congressional representative to ask for an immediate and peaceful resolution to this occupation,” Stenvik said. “Please help us and other schools to again be a safe place where all belong and all succeed.”
The district also has an immigration lawyer to help figure out how to get the students back to Minnesota.
Meanwhile, district officials say ICE continues to hang out around their schools — keeping kids, parents and staff on edge.
