Walz Presses DHS To Disclose The Number Of Kids Detained By ICE In Minnesota

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) warned Tuesday that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos’s detention 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 Tuesday press conference as he denounced the ways ICE had 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’ve been detained in Minnesota.

“Incredibly, his case is only one of many. Each day brings new reports of children detained by ICE,” Walz wrote.

Walz’s statements underscore how the detention of children has skyrocketed under the Trump administration, and also point to how limited the oversight is of the treatment of kids in federal detention.

According to an analysis by The Marshall Project, ICE held roughly 170 children on an average day during President Donald Trump’s second term, a major uptick compared to the last year of former President Joe Biden’s administration. In the last 16 months of the Biden administration, ICE held about 25 children per day.

The data The Marshall Project reviewed only covered September 2023 to mid-October 2025 and did not include information from the latest enforcement operation in Minnesota.

School officials in the Columbia Heights School District, where Ramos is a student, have emphasized that he was just one of several students who federal agents detained in the last month. A 10-year-old girl was taken into custody with her mother, and a 17-year-old boy was stopped on his way to school.

A DHS spokesperson did not provide additional data when asked for comment about Walz’s inquiry.

However, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said, “ICE is not going to schools to arrest children.” She also claimed the agency gave parents the option to be removed with their children or to place their child 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 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 incarcerated in America. Send our kids home.”

In addition, Walz pressed Noem to reinstate a sensitive locations policy, which once directed federal agents to limit enforcement operations near places like schools, hospitals and houses of worship.

Children have been resorting to virtual classes out of fear, and trained observers now watch over school grounds in case federal agents show up, Minnesota education officials said on Tuesday.

“ICE does not belong in and around our schools, in and around our bus stops,” said Brenda Lewis, the superintendent of Fridley Public Schools.