ICE detains father and his 5-year-old son in Minnesota

U.S. immigration authorities detained a five-year-old boy and his father outside their home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. The child, Liam Ramos, had just returned from school with his father when they were taken into custody in their driveway. Both were later transported to a detention center in Texas, the Guardian reported.

According to Marc Prokosch, an attorney representing the family, the father and son have an active asylum case and entered the U.S. legally. He also said there was no deportation order against them and that the father and son have remained together in detention.

In turn, Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said that ICE was conducting a «targeted operation» to arrest the father, whom she described as being in the country illegally. She added that the agency usually gives parents the option to remain with their children or designate another person to take custody.

ICE operations have recently been scrutinized after a deadly incident in Minneapolis, where an ICE agent fatally shot a 37-year-old woman during a raid in the area.