Serious allegations 5-year-old arrested by ICE - now his father speaks out

The arrest of a 5-year-old by the US immigration authorities ICE has outraged the public. Now the father is making serious allegations and contradicting their account of the operation.

Following the controversial arrest of a 5-year-old boy by US immigration authorities in Minnesota, his father has made serious accusations against the authorities.

Adrian Conejo Arias on Monday disputed claims by the Department of Homeland Security that he left his son Liam in a car while he fled from law enforcement officers. Arias told ABC News that he loved his son and would never have abandoned him.

Arias and Liam were arrested on January 20 in a suburb of Minneapolis and subsequently taken to a deportation center in the US state of Texas.

Sick during detention

Witnesses report that the boy was brought by ICE officials as a lure to get the mother to come to the door. However, the ministry denies this allegation. At the weekend, a federal judge finally ordered the release of both of them.

According to Arias, Liam had become ill while in custody and had not received any medication. The Department of Homeland Security, on the other hand, announced that officials had taken care of the child and confirmed that Arias was in the USA illegally. According to him, however, asylum proceedings are ongoing. Department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin explained that Arias had fled on foot before he was arrested.

"The facts in this case have not changed: The father, who was in the country illegally, decided to take his child to the deportation center," she said. McLaughlin did not address Arias' statement that his son had been denied medication while in detention.

The government said Arias entered the U.S. illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. Arias, however, said he was wrongfully detained and is in the US legally with an ongoing asylum case. He is originally from Ecuador.