A video obtained by CBS News shows the moment federal agents detained a 5-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, in Columbia Heights on Tuesday as he and his father arrived home from preschool.
The footage captures the boy, still very young and small, being taken by officers from a running car in the family’s driveway. The encounter has drawn widespread attention online and raised questions about enforcement tactics.
School officials with the Columbia Heights Public School District said the officers directed the child to knock on the front door to check if anyone else was inside — a tactic they described as using a child to “bait” a household into opening.
Department of Homeland Security officials have disputed that characterization. DHS says the operation was targeted at the child’s father, who agents say fled on foot, temporarily leaving the boy behind. The agency asserts that officers remained with the child for his safety before both were taken into custody together.
According to both federal officials and the family’s lawyer, Liam and his father are being held at a family detention facility in Texas. The father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, and his son were moved out of state amid the broader enforcement sweep.
The family’s attorney and local leaders have said the boy and his father came to the U.S. in 2024 and have an active asylum case. School officials have expressed deep concern over how the child was handled and the trauma experienced by his classmates.
Federal authorities maintain that children are not targeted, and that safety protocols were followed, though the incident has nonetheless fueled public debate about immigration enforcement tactics and the impact on families.
As the video continues to spread on social media, reactions remain sharply divided, with critics decrying the optics and federal agencies defending the legality of their actions.