Camille Naredo

A person walks past a Lady Liberty statue in front of a shuttered gyro shop and a poster calling for a strike of businesses under the banner "ICE out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom" in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 23, 2026. Roberto Schmidt, AFP

A person walks past a Lady Liberty statue in front of a shuttered gyro shop and a poster calling for a strike of businesses under the banner "ICE out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom" in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 23, 2026. The Pentagon has ordered 1,500 US soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to a state roiled by unrest over an immigration crackdown, US media reported on January 18. The reported preparations come days after President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which enables use of the military to suppress "armed rebellion" or "domestic violence" -- although a day later he said there was no immediate need for it. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)

Article (news)

Protests after US immigration officer kills woman in Minneapolis

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1769238745384AFP__20260123__93UH4EH__v1__MidRes__ProtestsAfterUsImmigrationOfficerKillsWomanInMin.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="A person walks past a Lady Liberty statue in front of a shuttered gyro shop and a poster calling for a strike of businesses under the banner &quot;ICE out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom&quot; in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 23, 2026. Roberto Schmidt, AFP" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A person walks past a Lady Liberty statue in front of a shuttered gyro shop and a poster calling for a strike of businesses under the banner &quot;ICE out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom&quot; in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 23, 2026. <em>Roberto Schmidt, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>MINNEAPOLIS -- Thousands of people braved icy conditions on Friday to protest the Trump administration&#x27;s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and businesses closed their doors amid anger over the detention of a five-year-old migrant boy.</p><p>Dozens of eateries, attraction sites and other businesses shuttered as part of a day of coordinated action to defy the weeks-long federal immigration operation underway in Minnesota.</p><p>Images of an apparently terrified preschooler, Liam Conejo Ramos, being held by immigration officers who were seeking to arrest the boy&#x27;s father have rekindled public outrage at the federal crackdown, during which an agent shot and killed a US citizen.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/1/23/a-five-year-old-boy-s-detention-by-federal-agents-shocks-a-minnesota-community-1046">READ: A five‑year‑old boy&#x27;s detention by federal agents shocks a Minnesota community</a></div><p>The superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, where Ramos was a preschool student, said the child and his Ecuadoran father, Adrian Conejo Arias -- both asylum seekers -- were taken from their driveway as they arrived home on Tuesday.</p><p>Ramos was then used as &quot;bait&quot; by officers to draw out those inside his home, superintendent Zena Stenvik added.</p><p>One protester, who declined to be named, told AFP he was marching &quot;because if we don&#x27;t fight, we don&#x27;t win. If we don&#x27;t fight, fascism wins.&quot;</p><p>The local man held a sign reading &quot;five-years-old, dude,&quot; a reference to Ramos.</p><p>Thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been deployed to the Democratic-led city, as President Donald Trump presses his campaign to deport undocumented immigrants across the country.</p><p>On a visit to Minneapolis on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance confirmed Ramos was among those detained. But he argued that agents were protecting him after his father &quot;ran&quot; from officers.</p><p>&quot;What are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?&quot; he said.</p><p>UN human rights chief Volker Turk called on US authorities to end the &quot;harmful treatment of migrants and refugees.&quot;</p><p>Arias, the father of the boy, was at a Texas detention facility, according to an ICE database that does not list the whereabouts of under-18s.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/1/16/trump-threatens-to-invoke-insurrection-act-over-minnesota-protests-0821">READ: Trump threatens to invoke Insurrection Act over Minnesota protests</a></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Dealing with children&#x27; -</strong></div><div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAFz8gWM8iRADsJr&amp;cid=ABwftHqmLNokPIaZ"></script></div><p>Border Patrol senior official Gregory Bovino defended his officers&#x27; treatment of Ramos, telling reporters Friday: &quot;I will say unequivocally that we are experts in dealing with children.&quot;</p><p>ICE commander Marcos Charles said Friday &quot;my officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family&quot; and alleged that Ramos&#x27;s family refused to open the door to him after his father left him and ran from officers.</p><p>They would be detained &quot;pending their immigration proceedings,&quot; he added after alleging they entered the United States illegally and were &quot;deportable.&quot;</p><p>Ramos&#x27;s teacher, whose name was given as Ella, called him &quot;a bright young student.&quot;</p><p>In Minneapolis, where temperatures touched -23C (-9F) on Friday, protesters wrapped in hats, gloves and scarves chanted &quot;ICE out&quot; as part of a broader anti-ICE day of action.</p><p>Separately, protesters picketed outside Minneapolis-St. Paul airport over the facility&#x27;s use for deporting those swept up in immigration raids.</p><p>Methodist pastor Mariah Furness Tollgaard said in a statement that 100 members of clergy were arrested and charged with trespassing and disobeying a peace officer on Friday, while demonstrating at the airport.</p><p>&quot;As a faith leader in Minnesota, my tradition teaches that every person bears the image of God and is worthy of dignity and safety, and in this moment, all people of faith and moral conscience must stand up,&quot; she said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/1/13/minnesota-sues-trump-administration-over-immigration-crackdown-0746">READ: Minnesota sues Trump administration over immigration crackdown</a></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Just a baby&#x27; -</strong></div><p>Former US vice president Kamala Harris said she was &quot;outraged&quot; by Ramos&#x27;s detention and called him &quot;just a baby.&quot;</p><p>Ramos is one of at least four children detained in the same Minneapolis school district this month, administrators said.</p><p>Minneapolis has been rocked by increasingly tense protests since federal agents shot and killed US citizen Renee Good on January 7.</p><p>An autopsy concluded that the killing was a homicide, a classification that does not automatically mean a crime was committed.</p><p>The officer who fired the shots that killed Good, Jonathan Ross, has neither been suspended nor charged.</p><p>Marc Prokosch, the lawyer for Ramos and his father, said they followed the law in applying for asylum in Minneapolis, a sanctuary city where police do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.</p><p>Children have been caught up in immigration enforcement under both Republican and Democratic administrations.</p><p>Minnesota has sought a temporary restraining order for the ICE operation in the state which, if granted by a federal judge, would pause the sweeps. There will be a hearing on the application Monday.</p>

<p>Thousands of people braved icy conditions on Friday to protest the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and businesses closed their doors amid anger over the detention of a five-year-old migrant boy.</p>

Thousands of people braved icy conditions on Friday to protest the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and businesses closed their doors amid anger over the detention of a five-year-old migrant boy.

Defiant protests over US immigration crackdown, child's detention

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Defiant protests over US immigration crackdown, child's detention

Roberto Schmidt,

with Gregory Walton in New York,

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 24, 2026 03:34 PM PHT

Read More:

Minnesota

protests

Minneapolis

ICE

immigration

Liam Conejo Ramos

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Donald Trump

United States

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