Walz Sounds Alarm About Number of Children Detained by ICE
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) warned Tuesday that the arrest of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos could be far from an isolated case.
“Here’s the thing, we don’t know how many others are in the same situation that didn’t get a photo that went viral,” Walz said during a press conference Tuesday while denouncing the ways ICE has targeted schools and students.
In a letter he sent this week, Walz also pressed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to reveal the number of children who have been detained in Minnesota.
“Incredibly, her case is just one of many. New reports of children being detained by ICE appear every day,” Walz wrote.
According to an analysis by The Marshall Project, ICE detained about 170 children on an average day during President Donald Trump’s second term, a significant increase compared to the final year of former President Joe Biden’s administration. In the last 16 months of the Biden administration, ICE detained about 25 children a day.
The data the Marshall Project reviewed only spanned from September 2023 to mid-October 2025 and did not include information from the last law enforcement operation in Minnesota.
Stephen Maturen via Getty Images
School officials in the Columbia Heights School District, where Ramos is a student, have emphasized that he was just one of several students detained by federal agents in the last month. A 10-year-old girl was detained with her mother and a 17-year-old boy was detained on his way to school.
A DHS spokesperson did not provide additional data when asked for comment on Walz’s investigation.
However, DHS Undersecretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said, “ICE will not go into schools to arrest children.” He also stated that the agency gave parents the option of being removed with their children or placing their children in custody with a person the parent designates.
In his letter, Walz asked Noem to share information about the health conditions of adults and children who have been detained in Minnesota, and urged agents to change their enforcement operations.
“I recognize the Department of Homeland Security’s responsibility for federal law enforcement actions. But these actions must be carried out lawfully, humanely, and consistent with our shared responsibility to protect children,” Walz wrote. “No child should be imprisoned in the United States. Send our children home.”
Additionally, Walz pressed Noem to reinstate a sensitive locations policy, which once ordered federal agents to limit law enforcement operations near places such as schools, hospitals and houses of worship.
Children have been turning to virtual classes out of fear, and trained observers are now keeping an eye on school grounds in case federal agents show up, Minnesota education officials said Tuesday.
“ICE does not belong in or around our schools or our bus stops,” said Brenda Lewis, superintendent of Fridley Public Schools.