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 has detained 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 in south Minneapolis on their way home from the grocery store, Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez said on Instagram.
A spokesperson for DHS confirmed that Tipan-Echeverria was taken into custody and that he 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 her father’s vehicle home, broke his window and kidnapped them,” Chavez wrote with the post. “No judicial warrant was provided.” In a brief interview with NBC News, he confirmed that they had been taken and added that he met with the father and daughter’s family on Thursday evening.
DHS said in a statement that Tipan-Echeverria was “an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who committed felony reentry and broke the laws of this nation.”
The spokesperson added that “DHS law enforcement took care of the child who the mother would not take” and that the “child and father are now reunited [at] a federal facility.”
DHS said that Tipan-Echeverria “was driving erratically with a child in the vehicle.”
“Tipan-Echeverria later parked his vehicle and agents attempted to take Tipan-Echeverria into custody, but he refused multiple lawful commands to open his door or lower his window,” the spokesperson said. “Agents took Tipan-Echeverria into custody and attempted to give the child to the mother who was in the area, but she refused.”
The 2-year-old girl’s mother, Deicy Villacis Ruiz, could not immediately be reached for comment.
During the arrest of Tipan-Echeverria, approximately 120 individuals surrounded the agents, blocking them in and preventing them from exiting, the spokesperson added. The bystanders then began throwing rocks and garbage cans toward the agents and child before crowd control measures were deployed, DHS said.
The apprehension comes days after 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were taken into custody by ICE, incensing the Twin Cities and drawing international media attention.
DHS said that 5-year-old Liam’s mother “refused” to take him when ICE agents were apprehending his father, who is now in federal custody with Liam in Texas.
School board chair Mary Granlund, who witnessed Liam and his father being taken into custody, disputed DHS’ claim, telling reporters on Thursday that she heard an adult inside the home begging agents to leave the child.
The apprehensions come amid a broader immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.
More than 3,000 federal immigration personnel have descended on Minnesota since December in what the federal government has dubbed Operation Metro Surge. About 3,000 people who are unlawfully in the country have been apprehended in the region in recent weeks, DHS said in a statement on Monday.
Immigration authorities were sent to the city after a right-wing YouTuber released a viral video alleging massive fraud at child care centers owned by Somali immigrants. The video placed renewed attention on the Justice Department’s investigation into an alleged $250 million fraud scheme involving some members of Minnesota’s Somali community.
Caroline Radnofsky contributed.