How the US vice president defends the pick-up of a 5-year-old boy by anti-immigration agents: “Would you want them to leave him out in the cold?”

US Vice President JD Vance confirmed Thursday that federal authorities detained a five-year-old boy following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Minneapolis, saying he wanted to “reduce tension” in the city, although he defended the agents' action, reports AFP.

ICE has been conducting a large-scale operation for several weeks in the state of Minnesota, where the death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old American woman who was fatally shot in her car by an agent on January 7 in Minneapolis, has inflamed tensions.

Accused by the Democratic opposition of adding straw to the fire by defending the agent who shot the woman, JD Vance traveled to Minneapolis to meet with ICE employees and to “reduce the tension,” as he said at a news conference.

“Yes, you can demonstrate,” he told the city's residents who protest daily, “but do it peacefully.”

Several American media outlets published on Wednesday and Thursday the photo of a little boy who was taken by ICE to a detention center in Texas. He appears with a dejected expression, wearing a blue hat adorned with two rabbit ears and a backpack, held by a black-clad figure.

The image was widely shared and moved social media users.

What Vice President Vance said about raising the child

Vance confirmed that the five-year-old boy was taken into custody by ICE after his father, whom the vice president described as an “illegal immigrant,” allegedly fled to avoid being apprehended by agents.

“I was like, 'Oh my God, this is terrible. How could we arrest a five-year-old?'” Vance said at the news conference. But he said he later changed his mind about ICE's action. “What else was he supposed to do? Let a five-year-old child die of cold?” he asked rhetorically.

The US vice president blamed the violence during ICE operations on the lack of cooperation of local police in Minnesota, one of the Democratic states targeted by President Donald Trump's anti-immigration offensive.

“We can very well enforce immigration laws without causing chaos, but that really requires the cooperation of state and local authorities,” he argued, particularly lamenting that federal agents are not “protected.”

The state of Minnesota asked the federal court to suspend the ICE operation. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for next Monday.