We must stop this now
It is a photograph that will go down in history as a defining image of this era: 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos in a blue bunny hat, detained by ICE agents.
Liam and his father, Adrian, were taken by immigration agents from his home in Minneapolis last week and sent to a Texas detention facility designed to detain families. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/31/us/liam-ramos-judge-release-ice-detention
A federal judge ordered his release yesterday.
In his orders, US District Federal Judge Fred Biery admonished “the government’s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence” and quoted Thomas Jefferson’s grievances against “a would-be authoritarian king,” saying today people “are hearing echoes of that history.”
We should all be paying attention.
Rather than rehash all the news already reported about Liam, I am going to highlight a few key points and then make a few observations. My sources are linked at the end of the post.
· Liam and his dad had just gotten home from school and were in their driveway when ICE took them into custody. The ICE agents sent Liam to the door and asked him to knock to see if anyone was home. His school superintendent said Liam was essentially used as bait.
· His mother was inside and did not answer the door. She is pregnant, and she was expecting another child to arrive home from school at any minute. Liam’s dad and neighbors were shouting at her not to answer the door. Pregnant women have been denied medical care in ICE detention, and there have been many miscarriages among women in ICE custody.
· Liam’s family is here legally, having come through an official crossing point in December 2024. They were granted asylum. There is no deportation order against them. The father has no charges against him in the United States or in his home country of Ecuador.
· DHS reported on social media that the father ran and left Liam behind. No eyewitnesses have substantiated that claim, although several eyewitnesses have substantiated the claim that the father was there the whole time, along with friends, neighbors, and school officials who offered to take Liam. DHS said the father wanted Liam to stay with him. Typically, law enforcement officers would contact Child Protective Services in this type of situation. No such effort was made.
When I posted about this on another platform last week, readers jumped in to criticize these parents for “abandoning their child.” I deleted their comments. I am not willing to debate whether what ICE did was right to detain Liam and his dad, any more than I am willing to debate whether the Gestapo was right to do the things that they did.
Liam’s mother had two choices: 1. Answer the door for Liam, which would have led to her being arrested, to her older child coming home to an empty house, and to possibly risking the life of her unborn child. 2. Refuse to answer the door and give ICE and DHS an excuse to blame her child’s detention on her.
What kind of choice is that? What mother would ever want to make that decision?
Next, I don’t believe Liam’s father ran from ICE. If he did, I can only fathom the terror he must have felt that would have caused him to do so.
Late in the week, Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro visited Liam and his dad at the ICE facility. He said Liam has been “sleeping, depressed, and sad,” according to his father. Why was a 5-year-old detained when he had loving people at home (including his mother), who wanted to care for him?
https://people.com/liam-conejo-ramos-ill-fever-ice-detention-center-11894992
These are my observations: This is just one example of a cruel and unconscionable act taken by our government. This should deeply disturb us all. This should cause all of us to act by raising awareness of such things, by contacting our elected officials, and by making it known that we will not tolerate this as Americans.
Early voting begins Feb. 17, and the primary election is March 3. We must vote for something different. We must elect candidates who are willing to stop this.
I have read the DHS statements on social media this week defending their actions. Here is one such post:
DHS has zero credibility with me. I am going to post some of their other social media posts, along with videos posted by the White House, so readers can decide for themselves whether this agency has credibility. This is an agency whose spokesmen and spokeswomen mock, ridicule, and demean people who come here from other countries. They are blatantly xenophobic and racist, and think that they are on a mission from God, as shown in the videos I’ve posted below. They do not try to hide it; in fact, they advertise it.
Take a moment and watch these. This is a tiny sample of the kind of content they routinely post. They think this is funny. It is a big joke to them. Their actual account is a horrifying collection of bizarre clips set to music that make it seem like they think they are starring in action movies. Or, like they are going to return America to a time when only white people had power and voices.
I am exhausted of people using “whataboutery” aka “red herrings” to distract from what is happening right now.
People indeed entered the country who shouldn’t have under Joe Biden – millions of them. Yes, the deaths of Kate Steinle, Mollie Tibbetts, and Laken Riley were horrific tragedies, along with others who died at the hands of undocumented immigrants. There are indeed some dangerous immigrants. But factually, based on extensive, long-term, recent research, evidence shows that immigrants are statistically less likely to commit crimes than native born Americans. And what happened in those tragic cases previously mentioned does not justify what is happening now.
I have many immigrant friends. I have bought their homemade tamales, attended their quinceañeras, eaten in their family-owned restaurants, written their college recommendation letters, and worshiped beside them in church. I have no idea the “status” of most of my immigrant friends, whether they are full citizens, here with VISAs or green cards, here on asylum, or here “illegally.” All I know is they are working, contributing, and making life better in my community, and they are not the ones Trump said he was going after when he ran for office. But now they are worried for their safety, with good cause. People who are approved to be here are being detained and deported, and the conditions in the detention facilities are often horrible.
In my very own community, a man was recently arrested by ICE a couple of days after his house burned down. The house burned down while he and his family were at church. In fact, he was hauling the debris from his house to the landfill when he was pulled over and detained. Have we lost all compassion, discretion, and decency?
It is time for serious conversations. We must stop what is happening through every peaceful means possible, and we must stop it now.
Sources:
My post preview image is from People.com
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/23/us/liam-conejo-ramos-ice-wwk
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/debunking-myth-immigrants-and-crime/
I agree with you 100%. Thank you for always writing with such honesty and passion!!!
The debate now seems to include getting rid of DHS. I hope those advocates mean DHS or only ICE and CBP. Since less crime is said committed by the ICE/CBP focused people than citizens, is it logical to reopen the border? Several states seem desiring to taking them in.