In the United States, thousands of people protested against ICE operations after the detention of a 5-year-old child in Minneapolis. They also denounced the Trump administration's immigration policy.

Despite the freezing cold, thousands of people demonstrated in Minneapolis on Friday against anti-immigrant operations in Minnesota, amid outrage after the detention of a 5-year-old boy by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The march, organized in the center of the state's largest city, chanted slogans calling to "abolish ICE" and "leave our neighbors alone."

A rally was then held on the field of the local NBA team, while other demonstrations took place around a building used by ICE and at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, from where migrants are sent to detention centers by the Trump administration. According to local media, about a hundred members of the clergy present at this rally were arrested.

ICE's methods denounced

Protesters explained their presence to AFP, denouncing the methods of the federal agency. "I'm here because if we don't fight, [...] fascism will prevail," said one participant who wished to remain anonymous. Another, giving his first name as Aron, asserted that immigration police are "brutal" and "do not respect the law."

Tensions are focused on two cases: the death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old American woman killed by an ICE agent on January 7, and the detention of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos since Tuesday. A photo of the boy, which has gone viral, shows him looking frightened, wearing a blue hat with bunny ears and a backpack, being held by a figure dressed in black. Two conflicting accounts exist regarding the circumstances of his arrest. During a visit to Minneapolis on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance stated that the child was found in front of his home after his father, originally from Ecuador and described as an undocumented immigrant, fled. "We were not targeting the child," asserted Marcos Charles, an ICE official.

The ICE version versus that of the local authorities

Local authorities dispute this version of events. Zena Stenvik, head of the local school system, accused the officers of using the boy as "bait," having him knock on his door to lure people out. Marcos Charles, for his part, claimed that his men "did everything possible to reunite him with his family" and that they "took him to a restaurant for a meal and spent hours making sure he had everything he needed," before a meeting with his father at a "family center while their immigration process was being processed."

The situation comes as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said he was "appalled by the now routine mistreatment" of migrants and urged Washington to "stop the practices that are tearing families apart." In this context, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated that "more than 10,000 undocumented immigrants" accused of crimes had been arrested in Minnesota, including 3,000 in the last six weeks, while the state has filed a lawsuit against the ongoing operation, with a hearing scheduled for Monday.