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On Thursday, ABC’s “World News Tonight” failed to report that three anti-ICE activists were arrested after a mob stormed a church in St. Louis. Paul, Minnesota – instead we focus on the arrest of a five-year-old child by ICE in the same state.
ABC anchor David Muir opened a nearly two-and-a-half-minute segment on ICE by speaking of “growing outrage” over reports that a five-year-old boy in Minnesota was detained by ICE and used as “bait” to catch his father, an illegal immigrant.
While the segment focused almost entirely on the Minnesota boy’s arrest, it left out another major ICE-related development from the same week — the arrest of several anti-ICE activists who disrupted a church service.
PASTORS WARN OF ‘COOLING EFFECT’ AFTER ANTI-ICE AGITATORS STORM MINNESOTA CHURCH SERVICE
Federal authorities arrested Chauntyll Allen, leader of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, left, activist William Kelly, center, and Nekima Levy-Armstrong, leader of the Racial Justice Network, right, after a mob stormed St. Paul, Minnesota, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Department of Homeland Security)
ABC’s omission of the Minnesota church protest arrest was first noted by NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck, who called the network an X on Thursday for not saying “one word” about the arrest.
ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Some evening broadcasts, such as NBC’s “Nightly News” and CBS’s “Evening News,” briefly covered the arrests of St. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday that Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly have been arrested in connection with the protest.
DHS SAYS TRAINING AGENTS TRAPPED IN VEHICLES IN CENTRAL MINNEAPOLIS FOR CONFIDENCE: ‘HARDLY ATTACKED’
The photo shows a small child standing next to a car during an ICE operation. (Columbia Heights Public Schools)
Despite widespread reports that a Minnesota child has been “arrested” by federal immigration officials, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has dismissed that claim.
According to DHS, the five-year-old child was not detained by ICE, but rather, “abandoned” during an immigration enforcement operation.
After Democrats – including Gov. Minnesota Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. – shared a photo of a five-year-old boy online and said he was arrested by ICE while returning from elementary school, the White House fired a statement to Fox News Digital.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson criticized what the Trump administration views as the mainstream media working “hand in glove with Democrats to spread outrageous lies about ICE operations.”
“It’s a shame that the media ran so fast with the Democrat fake story without getting the facts,” Jackson said. “Here’s the truth: ICE officers work heroically with great professionalism to make American communities safer. In this case, they lived with a child who was abandoned by his father – an illegal alien from Ecuador.”
MINNESOTA PASTOR SLAMS ANTI-ICE AGITATORS WHO DISRUPTED SERVICE: ‘SHAME AND ILLEGAL’
The Department of Homeland Security said the child who was reportedly detained by the Federal Immigration Agency in Minnesota this week was “abandoned” by his father, who is not targeted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (Columbia Heights Public Schools)
On the ABC News website, the outlet published an article titled “5-year-old asylum seeker arrested as ICE ramps up enforcement in Minnesota,” labeling the boy “in custody” as fact, despite DHS denying the claim.
Although the store later included a statement from DHS — “ICE did not target the child. The child was ABANDONED.” – that description was buried under the barn instead of the title.
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As noted by American Compass managing editor Drew Holden at X, the Daily Beast published a similar headline: “ICE Detains 5-Year-Old After School,” and presented the claim as fact.
