US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detained a five-year-old boy on Tuesday during an immigration enforcement operation, Minnesota school officials and the family’s lawyer have said.

Pre-schooler Liam Ramos was with his father – named by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias – when Conejo Arias was approached by agents on his driveway.

In a statement posted on X, the DHS said “ICE did NOT target a child”, but was conducting an operation against his father, an “illegal alien” who “abandoned” his son when approached.

Zena Stenvik, the Columbia Heights Public Schools superintendent, asked: “Why detain a five-year-old?

“You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”

In a post on X, ICE denied the child had been detained.

“A criminal illegal alien ABANDONED his child as he fled from ICE officers, and our officers ensured the child was kept SAFE in the bitter cold,” the agency said.

“ICE made multiple attempts to get the family inside the house to take custody of the child.

“They refused to accept custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him.”

DHS did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

Photos provided to the BBC by the school district show a boy, identified as Liam Ramos, wearing a bunny-shaped winter hat, standing outside as an officer holds on to his backpack.

The Columbia Heights Public Schools authority described these as bystander photos. The district did not identify the individuals who took the pictures, referring to them as “known and confirmed community members”.

Marc Prokosch, a lawyer representing the family, told a press conference on Thursday that Liam and his father were being held at a detention centre in San Antonio, Texas, and attorneys were trying to contact them.

Prokosch said the boy and his father had come to the US in 2024 from Ecuador to seek asylum.

“This family was not eluding ICE in any way,” he said. “They were following all the established protocols.”

School officials said an agent asked the child to knock on the door of the home to see if anyone else was there.

The boy had just arrived home from pre-school at the time, Stenvik told the press conference.

She said another adult living in the home asked to take the young boy inside, but was refused.

School board member Mary Granlund said she was on the scene and told immigration officials she could take Liam Ramos, but they still detained him.

US Vice-President JD Vance, who visited Minnesota on Thursday amid ongoing protests against immigration enforcement, told reporters ICE had no choice because “the father ran”.

“What are they supposed to do?” he said of ICE agents. “Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?

“Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?”

He added: “If the argument is that you can’t arrest people who have violated laws because they have children. . . that doesn’t make any sense.”

Stenvik said that ICE had recently detained a total of four students in her school district, including a 10-year-old, and two 17-year-olds.

“The onslaught of ICE activity in our community is inducing trauma,” Stenvik told reporters.

The DHS maintains it is arresting the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” in an effort to restore public safety in Minnesota.

At a DHS press conference on Tuesday, Gregory Bovino of the US Border Patrol said: “Our operations are lawful, are targeted, and are focused on individuals who pose a serious threat to this community.”

The immigration enforcement initiative, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, has sparked outcry from residents in Minneapolis, St Paul and other cities in the state.

On 7 January, a federal officer fatally shot a woman named Renee Good in Minneapolis, sparking protests and condemnation from local and state officials.

The Trump administration alleged the 37-year-old was using her vehicle as a weapon and the officer acted in self-defence.

Also on Thursday, seven Democrats in the US House of Representatives voted with Republicans to narrowly pass $1.2tn (£900bn) in funding for government agencies, including ICE.

The measure – which would allocate $64.4bn to DHS, including $10bn for ICE – was approved 220-207. It must still pass the Senate.

Democrats who voted in favour said they did so to fund the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency, both under DHS.