2-year-old girl and father taken by ICE to Minneapolis, local lawmaker says

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MINNEAPOLIS — A 2-year-old girl and her father were taken by ICE on Thursday, according to a Minneapolis council member. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it had arrested the father, who was with a child at the time.

Elvis Joel Tipan-Echeverria and his 2-year-old daughter Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis were taken to south Minneapolis on their way home from the grocery store, Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez said on Instagram.

A DHS spokesperson confirmed Tipan-Echeverria was arrested and was driving with a child when he was stopped. The agency did not identify the child’s name, age or gender.

“A suspicious vehicle followed his father’s vehicle to the house, broke his window and kidnapped them,” Chavez wrote in his post. “No judicial warrant has been provided.” In a brief interview with NBC News, he confirmed they had been taken and added that he met with the father and daughter’s family Thursday evening.

DHS said in a statement that Tipan-Echeverria was “an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who committed a crime of reentry and violated the laws of this nation.”

The spokesperson added that “DHS law enforcement took care of the child the mother did not want to take” and that “the child and father are now reunited.” [at] a federal establishment.

DHS said Tipan-Echeverria was “driving erratically with a child in the vehicle.”

“Tipan-Echeverria then parked his vehicle and officers attempted to stop him, but he refused several lawful commands to open his door or roll down his window,” the spokesperson said. “Officers arrested Tipan-Echeverria and attempted to release the child to the mother who was nearby, but she refused.”

The 2-year-old’s mother, Deicy Villacis Ruiz, could not immediately be reached for comment.

During Tipan-Echeverria’s arrest, around 120 individuals surrounded the officers, blocking them and preventing them from leaving, the spokesperson added. Bystanders then began throwing rocks and trash cans at the officers and children before crowd control measures were deployed, DHS said.

The arrest comes days after Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were taken into custody by ICEinfuriating the Twin Cities and attracting international media attention.

DHS said 5-year-old Liam’s mother “refused” to take him when ICE agents apprehended his father, who is now in federal custody with Liam in Texas.

School board President Mary Granlund, who witnessed the arrest of Liam and his father, disputed the DHS claim, telling reporters Thursday that she heard an adult inside the home begging agents to leave the child.

The arrests come as part of a broader immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.

More than 3,000 federal immigration agents have descended on Minnesota since December as part of what the federal government has dubbed Operation Metro Surge. About 3,000 people illegally in the country have been apprehended in the region in recent weeks, DHS said in a statement Monday.

Immigration authorities were sent to the city after a right-wing YouTuber posted a viral video alleging massive fraud at daycares owned by Somali immigrants. The video brought renewed attention to the Justice Department’s investigation into a alleged $250 million fraud scheme involving some members of Minnesota’s Somali community.