Facing Backlash Over 5-Year-Old’s Detention, ICE Takes 2-Year-Old Into Custody In Minneapolis

US immigration authorities have detained a two-year-old girl along with her father in Minneapolis, drawing sharp criticism from local officials and community members.

According to Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez, immigration agents stopped Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria and his two-year-old daughter, Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis, while they were driving home from a grocery store in south Minneapolis on Thursday.

In a post on Instagram, Chavez alleged that a “suspicious vehicle” followed the family, after which agents broke the car window and took the father and child into custody. He said no judicial warrant was presented.

Images shared on social media by a local photojournalist showed officers identified as Immigration and Customs Enforcement

agents surrounding a vehicle, as a man believed to be Echeverria held his toddler. Bystanders were seen blowing whistles and shouting at officers during the incident.

View this post on Instagram

DHS response

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that Tipan Echeverria was taken into custody and acknowledged that he was driving with a child at the time.

DHS described him as “an illegal immigrant from Ecuador” who had committed felony re-entry. A spokesperson said agents attempted to take him into custody after he parked his vehicle but claimed he refused repeated lawful commands to open the door or lower the window.

The department also alleged that Tipan Echeverria had been driving erratically with a child in the vehicle.

According to DHS, law enforcement officials ensured the child’s safety after her mother declined to take custody. “The child and father are now reunited at a federal facility,” the statement said.

Pattern of concern

The incident comes amid growing scrutiny of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following a separate case involving the detention of a five-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias.

In that case, DHS said the child’s mother refused to take him during the arrest. However, that account has been disputed by others, including school board chair Mary Granlund, who said she heard an adult inside the home pleading with agents not to take the child.

The detentions have renewed debate over ICE enforcement practices and the treatment of minors during immigration operations.