The incident comes just days after another father was arrested alongside his 5-year-old son in the same region, as thousands of federal agents carry out a large-scale immigration operation across Minnesota.
A 2-year-old girl and her father were apprehended Thursday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in south Minneapolis, according to a city council member. The arrest marks the second time in recent days that a young child has been detained during an immigration operation in the Twin Cities area, intensifying public anger over federal enforcement tactics in Minnesota.
Elvis Joel Tipan-Echeverria and his daughter, Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis, were returning home from a grocery store when they were intercepted, Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez said in a social media post cited by NBC News. Chavez alleged that agents did not present a judicial warrant during the arrest.
Conflicting Accounts
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed Tipan-Echeverria’s arrest, describing him as “an illegal immigrant from Ecuador” who had reentered the United States illegally after a prior deportation, a felony offense, according to NBC News.
DHS stated that Tipan-Echeverria was driving erratically with his daughter in the vehicle when agents intervened. The agency said officers attempted to transfer custody of the child to her mother, who was allegedly present at the scene but refused to take her. DHS added that the father and daughter have since been reunited at a federal detention facility.
Council member Chavez offered a sharply different account. He said a suspicious vehicle followed the father’s car to his residence and that agents broke a window to carry out the arrest.
Confrontation With Bystanders
The arrest prompted an immediate and tense reaction in the neighborhood. DHS reported that approximately 120 people surrounded agents and blocked their departure. The agency claimed that rocks and garbage cans were thrown toward officers and the child, forcing agents to deploy crowd-control measures.
The incident follows the recent arrest of Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias and his 5-year-old son, Liam, also in the Minneapolis area, according to NBC News. That case sparked widespread public outrage and drew international media attention.
As in the latest arrest, DHS claimed that the child’s mother refused to take custody. However, Mary Granlund, chair of the local school board and a witness to the incident, disputed the agency’s account, telling NBC News she heard an adult inside the home pleading with agents to leave the child behind.
Operation Metro Surge
Both arrests are part of a sweeping immigration enforcement effort known as “Operation Metro Surge.” DHS says more than 3,000 federal agents have been deployed to Minnesota since December and that approximately 3,000 people unlawfully present in the United States have been apprehended in the region in recent weeks.
The intensified operation followed the circulation of a viral video by a right-wing YouTuber alleging widespread fraud at child care centers owned by Somali immigrants. The video renewed public attention on a Justice Department investigation into an alleged $250 million fraud scheme involving some members of Minnesota’s Somali community, according to NBC News.
Growing Mobilization
In response to the stepped-up enforcement, community mobilization has surged in Minneapolis. Thousands of protesters have taken part in rallies opposing ICE operations, denouncing enforcement methods, and raising concerns about the impact on families.
Immigrant rights advocates have condemned the arrest of young children alongside their parents, arguing that such actions traumatize children—many of whom are U.S. citizens by birth—and violate basic principles of child welfare and protection.
This article is based on reporting by Matt Lavietes for NBC News, published January 23, 2026.
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