Minnesota officials, Trump administration offer very different takes on ICE's detainment of boy, 5

As was the case after the death of Renee Good, Minnesota officials and the Trump administration have very different views on how and why a five-year-old boy was detained by immigration enforcement in a Minneapolis suburb on Tuesday. 

School district officials, the family's lawyer and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey all condemned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for detaining Liam Conejo Ramos in the driveway of his Columbia Heights, Minn., home after returning from preschool. 

Federal officials — including U.S. Vice-President JD Vance — said the boy wasn't a target but was caught up in the arrest of his father, who they described as an "illegal alien." 

Here's a broader look at the differing views of how the arrest of Liam and his father went down. 

In a statement Thursday in which details of the arrest came to light, the superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools said Liam was essentially used "as bait" by ICE agents before he was detained alongside his father.

"Another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let them take care of the small child, but was refused," Zena Stenvik said. 

"Instead, the agent took the child out of the still-running vehicle, led him to the door, and directed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, in order to see if anyone else was home."

At a news conference Thursday evening, Stenvik and school board chair Mary Granlund offered more details about what they said they witnessed, with both women describing a fluid situation at the Columbia Heights home, where people were yelling and speaking over each other. 

Granlund said she witnessed the arrest of Liam and his father on Tuesday while picking up her own children from school. 

Granlund said offered to take the child, but cannot recall what agents said back to her.

"There was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults. Mom was there," Granlund said.

Stenvik said she was inside the home to support the mother, who she said was "distraught." She said she did not see the father try to escape, but saw him handcuffed in the driveway.

In a written statement Thursday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CBC News that ICE did not target the five-year-old boy, but instead were there to arrest his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who she described as an "illegal alien from Ecuador."

McLaughlin said ICE officers remained with the preschooler because his father fled on foot and abandoned him.