Thousands brave the cold to protest against ICE crackdown in Minneapolis

V-P Vance defends agents’ detention of migrant boy whose dad rar’ from them

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Protesters rallying against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on Jan 23. Dozens of eateries, attraction sites and other businesses were shuttered as part of a day of coordinated action to defy the weeks-long federal immigration operation in Minnesota state. PHOTO: AFP

(AFP)

Thousands braved icy conditions on Jan 23 to protest against 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.

Dozens of eateries, attraction sites and other businesses were shuttered as part of a day of coordinated action to defy the weeks-long federal immigration operation under way in Minnesota.

Images of a terrified-looking preschooler, Liam Conejo Ramos, being held by immigration officers who were seeking to arrest the boy’s father have rekindled public outrage at the federal crackdown, during which an agent shot and killed a US citizen.

The superintendent of Columbia Heights Public Schools, where Liam was a preschool pupil, said the child and his Ecuadoran father, Mr Adrian Conejo Arias — both asylum seekers — were taken from their driveway as they arrived home on Jan 20.

Liam was then used as “bait” by officers to draw out those inside his home, Superintendent Zena Stenvik added.