Vance crushes false narrative about ICE 'arresting' 5-year-old boy

An image was circulated widely this week showing a visibly upset preschooler wearing an oversized hat and Spider-man backpack standing in the company of federal immigration agents. Evidently loath to investigate the circumstances surrounding the photo and what it actually depicts, Democrats and other radicals rushed to condemn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), for instance, suggested ICE had treated the boy like a criminal, while twice-failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris wrote that he "is just a baby. He should be at home with his family, not used as bait by ICE and held in a Texas detention center. I am outraged, and you should be too."

'No one thinks that makes any sense.'

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) went a step further, accusing ICE of "kidnapping 5-year-olds and using them as bait" and suggesting the agency should be defunded.

The liberal media didn't appear particularly eager to correct Democrats' false narrative, which was incubated by woke officials with Columbia Heights Public Schools, where the child was reportedly enrolled.

During his visit to Minneapolis on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance gave the press a reality check, noting that anti-ICE propagandists glossed over some critical information about the incident.

"I actually saw this terrible story while I was coming to Minneapolis," said the vice president.

"And I see this story, and I'm a father of a 5-year-old — actually, a 5-year-old little boy. And I think to myself, 'Oh my God, this is terrible. How do we arrest a 5-year-old?'"

"Well I do a little bit more follow-up research, and what I find is that the 5-year-old was not arrested; that his dad was an illegal alien; and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran," said Vance.

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Photo by Jim Watson - Pool/Getty Images

Vance told the Minneapolis crowd, "So the story is that ICE detained a 5-year-old. Well what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?"

The Department of Homeland Security indicated that when ICE attempted to arrest the boy's father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Jan. 20, the illegal alien from Ecuador "fled on foot — abandoning his child."

Marcos Charles, the assistant director of enforcement and removal operations for ICE, indicated on Friday that after the illegal alien ditched his little boy and was arrested, ICE officers "stayed with the child. They cared for him, took him to get something to eat from a drive-thru restaurant, and spent hours ensuring he was taken care of. Again my officers did that. Not his father."

Charles noted further that people inside the illegal alien's apparent residence refused to open the door for the young boy and take him back.

According to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, the boy's alleged mother was inside the house and would not let him in even after officers assured her that she wouldn't be taken into custody.

Marc Prokosch, a lawyer representing the family, indicated during a press conference on Thursday that the boy and his father were reunited and are being kept together at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a family holding center in Dilley, Texas.

"Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement," said DHS.

The vice president further suggested that the argument that ICE cannot arrest illegal aliens who have children is unworkable given that'd mean "every single parent is going to be completely given immunity from ever being the subject of law enforcement."

"That doesn't make any sense. No one thinks that makes any sense," said Vance.

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