Is a five-year-old Minnesota boy's father a "criminal illegal alien" who abandoned him in a running car at their home, running away when confronted by Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers? Here's what we know so far: School officials who were at the scene Jan. 20, 2026 when the boy and his father were taken into custody say that's not true. Lead Stories has requested body cam video and agents' official reports to see if they corroborate ICE's version of events. Liam Ramos' lawyer said he has searched the Minnesota criminal database and found no cases against the father and that the father, an Ecuadoran national, was adhering to the legal steps to seek asylum.
The abandonment claim, made by ICE after the boy and his father were detained in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, was reiterated in a Jan. 22, 2026 X post (archived here) on the @ICEgov X account. The post began "Five months ago, activists tried to paint the same picture they're so desperately trying to paint now. They lied and claimed ICE "detained a 5-year-old." That was a LIE then and it's a LIE now." It continued:
Both children were ABANDONED by their criminal illegal alien parent who put the child's life in danger by leaving him/her behind and fleeing. Lies like these discredit the work of our brave men and women of @DHSgov who are enforcing federal immigration laws.
Here's the image ICE included in its post at the time this factcheck was written:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at /x.com/ICEgov/status/2014367006363930843/photo/2.)
Here are claims about the boy and his father and publicly available information Lead Stories has assembled on the case:
ICE Claim: Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias abandoned his son in a running car
ICE made the claim several times, including in a Jan. 22, 2026 X post (archived here) that read, in part: "The child was ABANDONED" and "... As agents approached the driver Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot -- abandoning his child."
Lead Stories reached out to ICE, seeking body cam or other evidence to support the assertion. We will update this fact check, as relevant, when they supply it.
At a Jan. 22, 2026 news conference at the office of the boy's attorney, Mark Prokosch, officials from the boy's school said it's not true the father abandoned his son.
In CSPAN video of the news conference, Columbia Heights Superintendent of Schools Zena Stenvik said she arrived at the scene in hopes of taking the boy back to school. She said she was told by witnesses there that ICE agents grabbed the father on the driveway of their home. "The accusation is he fled," Stenvik said, at timecode 05:00 of the CSPAN video . "Everything I heard was that he was handcuffed in the driveway. What we saw when we arrived was the father's car in the driveway, still running."
Mary Granlund, Chair of the Columbia Heights school board, who spoke starting at timecode 9:32 on the CSPAN video, said she arrived on the scene just as the boy was seized by ICE.
I was on my way to get my own children and I heard the commotion and saw all the people... As I got out of my car and came around the corner I heard, 'What are you doing? Don't take the child...The school is here, you don't have to take the child.'
There was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults. Mom was there and she saw out the window. Dad was yelling "Please do not open the door. Don't open the door.'
ICE Critics' Claim: ICE used the boy as "bait", trying to lure other adults out of his home
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin posted on Jan. 21, 2026 on X (archived here) that "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."
Granlund said online videos of the scene match what she saw: the boy walked to the door with an agent and knocking "with an ICE agent looming over him. I was there. This is what happened."
ICE called the "bait" characterization "Lies." In ICE's third in a series of posts about the case on Jan. 22, (archived here) ICE said the agent was helping the boy, not using him as bait:
As agents approached the driver Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot--abandoning his child. For the child's safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.
ICE Claim: Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias is a "criminal" and "illegal alien"
The lawyer working to get the child out of ICE custody in San Antonio, Texas, said neither of those things is true.
Marc Prokosch said he has searched Minnesota criminal records and found no criminal charges against Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias.
Using the portal available to the general public, Lead Stories confirmed this by searching for Arias in the Minnesota Judicial Branch's online case lookup system for any cases between Jan. 1, 2024 and Jan. 22, 2026. Searching with his full name resulted in zero cases found, as the screenshot below shows:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results at https://publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us/CaseSearch.)
Prokosch said the Arias family has abided by all federal laws governing their petition for asylum. He said they used the CBP-1 app in 2024 to request asylum based on fears for their safety in their native Ecuador. "They entered at a port of entry in Brownsville, seeking CBP-1...presented themselves to Customs."
He said the family have shared information with the U.S. government about where they are, not hiding and following the steps required to pursue an asylum claim.
Lead Stories was not able to confirm this, since asylum applications are confidential, to protect people fleeing political persecution or other threats in their homeland.
Stenvik confirmed that the family's papers are in order, saying that after the boy and his father were driven away by ICE agents, she was admitted to their home, where she met the mother and a sibling. "Liam and his father have the documentation," the Superintendent said. "I saw it with my own eyes when I visited the home."
Lead Stories searched the Google News index of thousands of news sites, in case any criminal case against Arias was reported on by news organizations, but slipped through the state criminal database. Using search terms "Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias" , arrested and Minnesota, no reports of criminal cases or arrests were found, only January, 2026 reports about the ICE detention of the boy and his father.
