U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has once again sparked outrage in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Earlier this week, agents arrested a five-year-old boy and his father. The local community is denouncing the act as “shameful.”

On Tuesday afternoon, ICE agents were waiting for five-year-old Liam and his father Adrian outside their home in Columbia Heights, a neighborhood in Minneapolis. Adrian had just picked up his son from school.

According to ICE, Liam's father fled when agents approached him. "For the child's safety, one of our agents stayed with him," explained U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After apprehending Adrian, agents reportedly asked Liam to knock on the door to check if anyone else was inside. According to the local school district's chief inspector, ICE used the boy "as bait."

The residents were shocked.

Another adult present in the house begged ICE officers to let Liam go, but they refused. Liam's teenage brother returned home shortly afterward, only to learn that his father and brother had been taken away by immigration police.

In photos taken by witnesses, an ICE officer can be seen grabbing Liam, who is wearing a blue beanie, by his Spider-Man backpack. The little boy is standing in front of the officers' patrol car.

The scene sparked outrage among Columbia Heights residents. “Why arrest a five-year-old? You can’t seriously expect me to believe he can be considered a violent criminal,” the city’s school board stated.

Asylum application

Liam and his father were taken to a detention center in Texas. Their lawyer stated that they were not U.S. citizens but were awaiting approval of their asylum claim. “They did everything they were supposed to do, according to the rules. They did not enter the United States illegally,” he clarified. The lawyer emphasized that no deportation order had been issued against Liam and his father.

This is the fourth time this month that ICE has arrested a student from the Columbia Heights school district. In Minneapolis, tensions have been running high since the death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman shot by an ICE agent earlier this month.