As they did after the death of Renee Good, local and state officials characterized the federal detention of a five-year-old boy differently today.

The Trump administration, represented by Vice-President JD Vance on a visit to Minneapolis, said the boy was detained because his father — who Vance described as an “illegal alien” — left him behind in the bitter Minnesota cold as he fled ICE agents.

School district officials, the family’s lawyer and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were unanimous in their condemnation of the preschooler’s arrest, just one of four involving students in recent weeks, according to school officials. Images of the boy, wearing an oversized blue tuque with ear flaps and a Spider-Man backpack, provoked outcry about the arrest online.

In separate remarks, Vance and Frey said they agreed state and federal officials need to better co-operate with one another on what, on the surface, was a shared goal: making cities safe. The issue lies in their different view on who poses a danger.

The vice-president today said the federal presence in Minnesota is only as large as it is because “far-left agitators” have endangered immigration enforcement officers in the course of their work. Frey has said it’s the Trump administration sowing chaos by flooding the city with federal officers who are detaining people who “have done nothing wrong.”

“This is more about political retaliation. This is more about, tragically, terrorizing people than it is about safety, than it is even about immigration,” Frey said.

Teachers were non-partisan in speaking about five-year-old Liam — a preschooler who they say is missed by his classmates — and their hope for a path forward. They said students just want to get back to school and staff would like to get back to teaching.