Vice President J.D. Vance did not hold back during a speech in Minnesota on Thursday, taking aim at reports suggesting federal immigration agents had arrested a five-year-old boy.
Vance addressed the controversy directly, pushing back against a reporter’s question regarding the incident. The Vice President argued that the narrative was missing key context: specifically, that the boy’s father allegedly ran from agents, leaving the child behind in a potentially dangerous situation.
“I actually saw this terrible story while I was coming to Minneapolis,” Vance told the crowd.
He mentioned he was leaving an event in Toledo, Ohio, when the headline caught his eye. “I’m a father of a five-year-old actually, a five-year-old little boy, and I think to myself, ‘Oh my god, this is terrible.’ How did we arrest a five-year-old?”
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However, Vance said that after looking into the details, the reality was different.
According to Vance, agents were forced to step in for the child’s safety after his father, identified as Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, attempted to evade capture.
“The five-year-old was not arrested,” Vance said. “When they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran.”
Vance defended the agents’ decision to secure the child, posing a rhetorical question to his critics. “So, the story is that ICE detained a five-year-old. Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?”
He went on to argue that having children cannot act as a shield against law enforcement. “If the argument is that you can’t arrest people who have violated laws because they have children, then every single parent is going to be completely given immunity,” Vance stated. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) backed Vance’s account, issuing a statement on X to clarify the timeline. They denied targeting the child.
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“ICE did NOT target a child. The child was ABANDONED,” the DHS statement read. The agency explained that Conejo Arias had been released into the U.S. by the Biden administration but was the subject of a targeted operation on January 20.
“As agents approached the driver… [he] fled on foot—abandoning his child,” DHS stated. One officer reportedly stayed behind with Liam to ensure his safety while others pursued and apprehended the father.
However, local accounts offer a slightly different perspective on the scene. Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, spoke at a news conference, claiming that agents took the child from a running car in the driveway just after he had returned home from preschool.
The White House also weighed in, criticizing media outlets for omitting context regarding the officers’ safety concerns.
DHS further clarified the standard procedure in these cases. They noted that parents facing removal are generally given a choice: they can be deported alongside their children, or they can designate a safe guardian in the U.S. to care for the child.
In this instance, authorities say the father is being removed with his son. According to the family’s lawyer and school officials speaking to the Associated Press, both father and son have since been transported to a family detention facility in Texas.
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