Vice President JD Vance confirmed on Thursday that a five-year-old boy was among those detained by federal agents during a massive immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, stirring outrage in the northern city and across the US.
As “the father of a five-year-old” himself, Vance acknowledged he was stunned by news of the child’s predicament at first.
“I think to myself ‘Oh, my God, this is terrible. How did we arrest a five-year-old?’” Vance said Thursday, pivoting to say he then did more research and changed his mind because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained the child after his father ran from immigration agents.
“Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?”
More broadly, Vance blamed local leaders for disorder on a visit to the troubled midwestern state, which has been rocked by increasingly tense protests since federal agents shot and killed US citizen Renee Good on January 7.
The child’s detention came as the US attorney general announced Thursday the arrests of three activists accused of disrupting a St. Paul church service in a protest, accusing a pastor at the church of working for ICE.
Thousands of federal agents have been deployed to the Democratic-led state, as the Trump administration presses its campaign to deport what it says are millions of illegal immigrants across the country.
The arrests of lawyer and social activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly in connection with a Sunday protest at Cities Church in the state capital St. Paul, were announced by Attorney General Pam Bondi on X.
Bondi said Armstrong “allegedly played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack on Cities Church.”
Videos of that protest showed dozens of demonstrators chanting “ICE out!” in the church.
Amid growing local anger over the use of pepper spray, tear gas and other forceful tactics adopted by ICE in the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Vance defended the conduct of ICE and called on protesters to be peaceful.
“Yes, protest. Protest me. Protest our immigration policy, but do it peacefully. If you assault a law enforcement officer, the Trump administration and the Department of Justice is going to prosecute you,” Vance said, flanked by ICE officers and vehicles.
