Transcript

Dems ERUPT Over ICE Detaining 5-Year-Old; DHS REFUTES Story | RISING

From The Hill · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 11 min · 2,105 words · 21 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Dems ERUPT Over ICE Detaining 5-Year-Old; DHS REFUTES Story | RISING", an episode of The Hill published January 23, 2026 (11 min, about 2,105 words). It mentions 9 people, works and ideas, including Liam Cano Ramos, Zena Stenvik, Adrien Alexander Kaneo Arius, Biden administration, Ilan Omar.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 3:00: Liam Cano Ramos, Adrien Alexander Kaneo Arius, Biden administration, Zena Stenvik
  2. – 6:00: Renee Mlin Good, Dean Phillips
  3. – 9:00: Renee Mlin Good

Notable quotes from "Dems ERUPT Over ICE Detaining 5-Year-Old; DHS REFUTES Story | RISING"

  • Boy attended school. Now, according to the AP, Superintendent Zena Stenvvic told reporters that immigration enforcement took Liam Cano Ramos from a running car in his family's…
    about Liam Cano Ramos · at
  • Superintendent Stenick says two 17year-olds and a 10-year-old have also been taken by immigration enforcement.
    about Zena Stenvik · at
  • However, Phillips did end the post by writing, What's happening in Minneapolis, St. Paul is a stain on all of us as the rights of Americans are being shredded.
    about Dean Phillips · at
  • President go to, Minneapolis and not even connect with Mayor Fry or Governor Walsh, knowing that he's saying the temperature is turned up the same way that Walsh says it's…
    about Governor Tim Walz · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Liam Cano Ramos — Person · Referenced child at center of ICE incident · 3 mentions · first at
    A 5-year-old whose detention/handling by ICE is the focal point of the controversy and political reactions discussed.
  • Zena Stenvik — Person · Referenced local official / superintendent source · 1 mention · first at
    Provides the allegation that the child was used as bait; her account is contrasted with DHS's denial.
  • Adrien Alexander Kaneo Arius — Person · Referenced target of ICE operation (alleged father) · 1 mention · first at
    Named by DHS as the intended arrestee in the operation; his actions (fleeing/abandonment) are used to rebut the 'bait' allegation.
    Thursday, writing, ICE did not target a child. The child was abandoned. On January 20th, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrien Alexander Kanejo Arias, an illegal…
  • Ilan Omar — Person · Referenced lawmaker reacting on social media · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as voicing outrage and framing the incident as contradicting claims that enforcement targets only 'the worst of the worst.'
    Congresswoman Ilhar Ilhan Omar posting to X ICE just detained a 5-year-old child. Don't tell us this is about quote the worst of the worst. That's a lie.
  • Congresswoman Angie Craig — Person · Referenced lawmaker reacting on social media · 1 mention · first at
    Quoted condemning ICE and the Trump administration; her claims are directly rebutted by an RNC account in the segment.
    Humanity in Minnesota, folks. If you can look at this 5-year-old and actually with a straight face, still support and be silent in the face of what the Trump administration and…
  • Dean Phillips — Person · Referenced former lawmaker correcting misinformation · 1 mention · first at
    Introduced as a Democrat who concedes the 'bait' framing is likely false while still criticizing broader enforcement impacts.
  • Governor Tim Walz — Person · Referenced state leader in federal-local conflict discussion · 5 mentions
    Discussed as a Minnesota leader critical of ICE; cited in debate about coordination/dialogue with the Vice President.
  • Renee Mlin Good — Person · Referenced deceased person in related controversy · 3 mentions · first at
    Her death is cited as a prior incident that reduced trust in federal officials and shaped local reactions to ICE activity.
    Congress men and women are saying in our immigration policy. And so in one month, to have Renee Good's death, to see local leaders be completely iced out of the investigation…

Concepts & topics

  • Biden administration — Concept · Key argument · 1 mention · first at
    The Biden administration is mentioned in the context of immigration policy and its handling of ICE operations, which is a central topic of discussion in the episode.
    Operation to arrest Adrien Alexander Kanejo Arias, an illegal alien from Ecuador who was released into the US by the Biden administration. As agents approached the driver…

Full transcript with timestamps

Outrage on the left after reports this week that a 5-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Minnesota and was allegedly used as bait to capture his father. That allegation coming from the superintendent of the district where the boy attended school. Now, according to the AP, Superintendent Zena Stenvvic told reporters that immigration enforcement took Liam Cano Ramos from a running car in his family's driveway shortly after arriving home from preschool. Stenvik said officers then knocked on the family's door to see if anyone else was inside, quote, essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.

She went on to say Ramos's father told his mom, who was inside the house, to not open the door and that the agents refused to leave Liam with either another adult who lives at the home or an official from the school district. DHS has vehemently denied that version of the story. They took to social media Thursday, writing, ICE did not target a child. The child was abandoned. On January 20th, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrien Alexander Kanejo Arias, an illegal alien from Ecuador who was released into the US by the Biden administration. As agents approached the driver, Kaneo Arias fled on foot, abandoning his child. For the child's safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Kuneo Aras. A lawyer for the family told the AP that he assumes Liam and his father are in a family holding cell, but says he has not been able to have direct contact with

them. Now, Liam isn't the first student in that community to be detained by ICE. Superintendent Stenick says two 17year-olds and a 10-year-old have also been taken by immigration enforcement. And after this incident, some lawmakers are voicing their outrage. Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhar Ilhan Omar posting to X ICE just detained a 5-year-old child. Don't tell us this is about quote the worst of the worst. That's a lie. Absolutely vile. And fellow Minnesota representative Angie Craig posted this vote video to social media. So now ICE is using a 5-year-old boy. A five-year-old boy. They took him and used him to lure his father out. And now they've detained them both. This is not humanity in Minnesota, folks. If you can look at this 5-year-old and actually with a straight face, still support and be silent in the face of what the Trump administration and Christine Gnome is doing, I just can't even believe this is

America. If you can't speak out about this, then you've got no humanity left. But Republicans are pushing back. The RNC research account responding directly to Congresswoman Craig writing, "This child was abandoned by his father who fled to evade ICE agents. Does spreading aborant lies about ICE officers make you feel good about yourself?" And even some Democrats are starting to concede that the initial reports of using Liam as bait were likely false. Former Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, who has been a critic of ICE's operations in his state, wrote in his own post, "Since I hate misinformation, I acknowledge the little boy was abandoned by his father who fled ICE agents. I witnessed great compassion from CBP agents towards abandoned children when I visited the southern border a few years ago, and this little boy is in good hands."

However, Phillips did end the post by writing, "What's happening in Minneapolis, St. Paul is a stain on all of us as the rights of Americans are being shredded.

All right. So, kind of difficult here because we basically have he said, she said situation. We don't have video. Um the account from the superintendent I find a little bit curious because it doesn't say whether or not she was there. There was a neighbor who apparently claimed that they wanted to take custody of the child, which typically ICE would not allow a random stranger to take. they would try to keep the child with the parents. So, if the uh wife or the mother of the child is refusing to open the door and take the child in and the dad is going to a detention facility, I don't think it's absurd to say that the child should stay with the father. Now, ICE also suggests or DHS suggested that the father requested that the child stay with him.

So, it's hard for me to comment, you know, on who's in the right in this situation because I just don't think we have enough information yet. And I also agree with that, but I feel like what is the incentive for us to believe much of anything coming from federal officials surrounding Minnesota due to the fact that we know after Renee Good was killed, there was an immediate um action plan to call her a domestic terrorist and some of the information. And so I know that there have been ICE officers trying to target schools and that's why people were whistling in Minnesota and really trying to protect the school as a place that's supposed to be, you know, let's say a sanctuary where people hopefully are not pulling parents out of cars or stopping them as they pull out.

And so to think about the fact that another or Minnesota officials are saying like a 10-year-old, a 17year-old, and now a 5-year-old are all just products of them trying to get migrants out. think that uh a lot of Americans would not want to see many kids being involved in this disastrous way. I think there's two things can be true. People think that immigration needed to be better handled in this country and many Democrats even finally admit towards the end of Biden's term that he did a poor job at immigration policy. Um but at the same time, we don't have to lack humanity like some of these Democratic Congress men and women are saying in our immigration policy. And so in one month, um, to have Renee Good's death, to see local leaders be completely iced out of the investigation, to have our vice president go to, uh, Minneapolis and not even connect with Mayor Fry or Governor Walsh, knowing that he's saying the

temperature is turned up the same way that Walsh says it's turned up. Bring it down. If you guys have the same message, why has there been no uh, coordination? Oh, because you both on both sides would rather public accolades that you're screaming at top of your lungs about differences. I think it's just really letting everybody down because nobody wants a child, any mom could look at this, any person could look at this and say, "I don't want them caught in the middle of this." Whether his father ran, whether ICE was detaining him and doing it wrong. We don't know who to believe.

And I think part of it starts with some of the highest officials in our country and in Minnesota being adults and figuring out how to have a different conversation than the ones they've been having. Well, it's hard to have a conversation though with people who are telling ICE to leave Minneapolis entirely. Um, they are there to execute legal federal immigration enforcement procedures and the local police and local officials have refused to cooperate. And so, if you're JD Vance, you're the vice president, you have been elected under the campaign uh mantra of executing a massport deportation operation. You're going there to support your ICE agents and tell them to keep keep pushing on. You're not going there to try to pacify Mayor Fry, who has made very clear where he stands on this issue. And on this question of children, you know, it is complicated because we don't know, for example, on those other

instances of children being pulled out of school, were their parents detained? Were did their parents ask for their children to be deported with them? Because there was a misinformation story earlier in this administration where people were claiming that American citizen children were being deported and then we found out that the real story was that the mother was an illegal alien. She was deported. She requested that her children who are American citizen be able to go with her. And so they weren't deported, they were kept with their mother. And so to go from the first Trump administration where people were very upset about the quote unquote family separation policy to now raising hell because uh ICE is actually and DHS are allowing children to leave with their parents. That's not a consistent principle.

Well, I think um for the vice president to go to Minnesota and not talk to local leaders is childish. I don't think that because you think it's pacifying Fry or Wals, that's not what politics is about. And I think when you talk about how the president's administration looks as a whole, that New York Times poll, whether people want to accept it or not, saying 50% disapprove of the immigration agenda at this point, look at the country. These are not just Democrats. These are people that are stressed out by watching this policy, these policies take place.

And watching people die, it doesn't matter if people thought Renee Good was in the wrong or the ICE officer. When you watch that instance, you're like, surely there's a better way we can handle this. And so, as the vice president of the country, whether you like people or not, that's the job. That's the name of the game. You get to go there and reach out to people. It doesn't matter if you think it's contentious. That's that's part of the job.

Vice president of the whole country. It's not about liking them or not. It's what they've made very clear about their policy priorities. If Jacob Fry is publicly saying no ICE in Minnesota, no ICE in Minneapolis, and Tim Walls has repeatedly referred to ICE as the new Gestapo, what conversation are they going to have that's

Well, I'm sure they can have the same one that the president and mom Donnie had who said similar things about one another but then met in their office and had a dialogue.

Right. Mom Donnie was willing to go to the White House and talk with Trump. They've had a texting relationship. I mean,

so Mom Donnie chose to be the bigger person. So why can't someone in the administration do the same thing my mom Donnie did? If if Governor Fry and Walsh aren't doing it. I'm calling everybody to task, though. I'm not only saying Vance did, I'm saying they said they didn't know Vance was in town, then nobody met. And so that brings us exactly nowhere.

What What are What would do you think that Fry and Walls would change their minds on if they had a conversation with Vance?

I we watched something happen. I mean, you call Trump the taco or not about Greenland. We watched him get everybody on board with a deal. Maybe if he's the ultimate dealmaker, he could figure out how to better handle immigration in the way that he sees fit. But a dialogue has to be the beginning of that because nobody really would like to see kids, whether we don't know the whole story, a woman shot in a car, like these are not the way that I think most people I mean, I'm just going bases off the bro podcasters, the polling, people don't want to see these type of incidents happen. I think the reality though is that immigration is uh federal the federal government's responsibility, right? And so when you have state and local leaders who are refusing to cooperate with what is the federal government's responsibility, you don't need their support. And honestly, at the level of vitrial that they've thrown out at ICE agents and

encourage people to obstruct legal proceedings that are taking place, I wouldn't have a conversation with them either. I don't I just don't view that as productive. I mean, they could keep going back and forth about this, about who started it or um, you know, what the point, how we got here, but we're here and we have to figure out how to solve this.

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Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Dems ERUPT Over ICE Detaining 5-Year-Old; DHS REFUTES Story | RISING"?

In order: 0:00 Liam Cano Ramos, Adrien Alexander Kaneo Arius, Biden administration, Zena Stenvik; 3:00 Renee Mlin Good, Dean Phillips; 6:00 Renee Mlin Good.

What is mentioned in this The Hill episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Liam Cano Ramos, Zena Stenvik, Adrien Alexander Kaneo Arius, Biden administration, Ilan Omar, Congresswoman Angie Craig. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Dems ERUPT Over ICE Detaining 5-Year-Old; DHS REFUTES Story | RISING"?

The episode runs 11 min; the transcript is about 2,105 words in 21 timestamped sections.

More from The Hill

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 25, 2026.