Federal immigration agents detain a man and his daughter while blocking the alley outside their home on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Ellen Schmidt/MinnPost/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Minneapolis, Minnesota have reportedly taken a 2-year-old girl into custody along with her father. Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis and her father, Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria, were stopped and taken by immigration agents while driving home from the grocery store in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Thursday, Jason Chavez, a member of the Minneapolis City Council, said.
2-year-old girl, father detained by ICE
“A suspicious vehicle followed her father’s vehicle home, broke his window and kidnapped them,” Chavez wrote in a post on Instagram. “No judicial warrant was provided.”
A photojournalist with a local news portal also posted a photo on Instagram, showing ICE agents surrounding a car as a man believed to be Echeverria clutched his toddler, while bystanders blew whistles and shouted at officers.
What DHS said
In a statement, the DHS confirmed that Tipan-Echeverria was taken into custody and that he was driving with a child when he was stopped.
According to the DHS, Tipan-Echeverria was “an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who committed felony re-entry and broke the laws of this nation.”
A protester waves as federal immigration agents leave after they detained a man and his child on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Ellen Schmidt/MinnPost/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
“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,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Story continues below this ad
“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,” it said
The DHS also alleged that Tipan-Echeverria “was driving erratically with a child in the vehicle.”
ICE detained a 5-year-old
This comes even as ICE is under fire for detaining 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias.
DHS had defended the detention of Liam, claiming that the boy’s mother “refused” to take him when ICE agents were apprehending his father. This has, however, been disputed by others, including School board chair Mary Granlund, who said she heard an adult inside the home begging agents to leave the child.
Share
Federal immigration agents detain a man and his daughter while blocking the alley outside their home on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Ellen Schmidt/MinnPost/CatchLight Local/Report for America) 
