Federal immigration agents have detained at least four children from the Columbia Heights Public Schools district in Minnesota, including a five-year-old boy returning home from preschool, prompting deep concern among educators and community leaders about the impact of enforcement actions on local families.

School officials in the Minneapolis suburb said the children were taken in separate incidents over recent weeks as part of operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), heightening fear among immigrant communities.

On Tuesday afternoon, ICE officers detained five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, in their driveway shortly after Liam returned from preschool with his father, the school district’s superintendent said at a news conference.

Authorities then transported both to a family detention facility in Texas.

Officials described the encounter as involving agents leading the child to knock on the family’s front door, alleging the tactic was used to check for others inside the home, a claim that intensified public criticism of the operation.

DHS spokespeople have maintained that the child was not the target of the enforcement action and that the father fled on foot as agents approached.

They stated that ICE’s policy is to ask parents whether they want to be removed along with their children or prefer to have their children placed with a designated caregiver.

School officials, however, said another adult present at the scene offered to care for the child but was refused, leaving the family and community unsettled.

Liam’s detention follows three other student arrests by ICE in recent weeks, school leaders said.

These include a 17-year-old taken from their car by masked agents without parents present, a 10-year-old fourth grader and her mother taken while on the way to school, and another 17-year-old detained with a parent at their apartment.

Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik described the growing enforcement presence around schools and neighbourhoods as deeply disruptive, contributing to a drop in school attendance and widespread anxiety among students and parents.

Educators voiced distress over the effects on children’s sense of safety and stability.

Liam’s teacher said he is a beloved student who is missed by classmates and staff.

School officials are coordinating support for affected families while highlighting concerns about the broader enforcement strategy and its implications for children who are not the subjects of criminal charges but are caught up in immigration actions.

The district’s predominantly immigrant population is grappling with a heightened climate of uncertainty as these detentions unfold.