Vice President JD Vance ‘Proud’ to Stand Behind Law Enforcement After ICE Detains 5-Year-Old Boy

Vice President JD Vance has addressed the viral images of a 5-year-old boy being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As the 41-year-old vice president delivered remarks in Minneapolis on Thursday, January 22, he was asked if he was “proud” of how President Donald Trump’s administration is “conducting this immigration crackdown here in Minnesota” after it was reported that a young boy was held after coming home from preschool.

Instead of answering the question directly, Vance instead said he is “proud of the fact that we’re standing behind law enforcement,” adding: “I’m proud of the fact that we’re enforcing the country’s laws.”

Speaking about the young boy, Liam Conejo Ramos — who, along with his father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, had reportedly been detained in a driveway this week — he initially thought the story was “terrible,” especially since he is also a father of a 5-year-old.

However, the father of three (who is expecting a fourth baby with wife Usha) said he looked further into the story and thinks that ICE acted accordingly. He claimed the boy’s father was an “illegal alien,” despite a lawyer for the family telling The Guardian that Conejo Arias entered the United States at an official crossing point.

“Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?” Vance asked. “If the argument is that you can’t arrest people who have violated our laws because they have children, then every single parent is going to be completely given immunity from ever being the subject of law enforcement. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Marc Prokosch, an attorney representing the family of the 5-year-old boy and his father, told The Guardian that they came to the U.S. via a port of entry and have an active asylum case.

“The family did everything they were supposed to in accordance with how the rules have been set out,” he said. “They did not come here illegally. They are not criminals.”

Vance was also asked about Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year-old mother of three who was killed at the hands of an ICE officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.

Calling Good’s death “a tragedy,” he claimed, “I also think that she rammed an ICE officer with her car.” (Video from the moment showed Good acting calmly and appearing to turn the wheel of her Honda Pilot away from the officer.)

Vance said that ICE officers would be investigated in incidents if it is believed that wrongdoing took place.