US immigration authorities detained at least four children including a 5-year-old from a Minneapolis-area school district this month, school district officials said on Thursday.
The report comes amid concerns over the scope and tactics of federal law enforcement officers as part of US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, which has seen 3,000 officers deployed to Minnesota's largest city.
Trump has described the crackdown as a battle to get violent criminals out of the US.
"Why detain a 5-year-old?" Zena Stenvik, the Columbia Heights Public Schools district superintendent, said at a news conference on Wednesday. "You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal."
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin on Thursday denied a child was targeted. “ICE did NOT target a child," she said in a statement.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted an operation on Tuesday to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, who was in the country illegally, she said. As agents approached, Conejo Arias fled the scene, leaving his child behind, she said.
"For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias," McLaughlin said in a statement.
She said parents targeted in ICE operations are asked if they want to be removed with their children or have them placed with a person designated by the parents.
DHS did not comment on the school district's assertion that other children have also been detained by ICE.
At the news conference, Stenvik said Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, was taken with his father in their driveway after having been picked up from preschool on Tuesday.
The same day, she said, a 17-year-old high school student was taken by armed and masked agents while on the way to school. No parents were present at the time, she said.
Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old was taken by ICE agents on her way to elementary school and she and her mother are still in a Texas detention center, Stenvik said.
Last week, a 17-year-old high school student was detained with her mother by ICE agents at their apartment, she said.