By Carol Lucas
As I sat at my computer, deliberating whether next week’s column or the approaching snow “scare” should impact my level of concern, I came to the conclusion I would go with that over which I have some control.
So I moved on to three or four topics that I had previously mulled over, and finally I came back to the one that has bothered me from the moment I learned about it.
Was it the blue bunny hat? Was it the Spider-Man back pack? Or was it the name Liam, that of my first-born great grandchild? Might it have been the totally innocent look on the child’s face as he observed what was happening, his mother screaming from inside the house, his father screaming, “Don’t open the door!”
Whatever the drawing card was, it pulled, it tugged, it yanked until I could no longer force it from my mind. I knew no child should have to endure this kind of thing; yet make no mistake, hundreds have. To write about it one more time will not erase the trauma these children have endured at the hands of masked thugs; however, it may provide some sense of catharsis for me.
I have tried to determine how this story got lost in the plethora of Minneapolis “ICE travesties.” I guess I have to admit that the actual murders of two citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, soon overtook the capture of a 5-year-old “menace.”
I need to stop here with some clarification. There have actually been three murders. Sadly, Keith Porter, Jr., father of two was fatally shot in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve by an off-duty ICE agent. Why that barely made the news is a topic for another day, much more important than a mere digression.
Let’s begin with some background. Obviously, ICE was there to detain Liam’s father although I must say I wouldn’t be shocked if they whined that the child had done something that merited their immediate attention. Liam’s father does not appear to have a criminal record in Minnesota nor in his home country. So why was this man a target?
The family is originally from Ecuador and presented themselves to border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum, said the family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch. “These are not illegal aliens,” he said. “They were following all the established protocols, pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings, and posed no safety, no flight risk and never should have been detained.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly said it is targeting “violent criminals” and the “worst of the worst” in its immigration sweeps, though Homeland Security officials have also acknowledged that over the course of operations other immigrants may be picked up too. “May” be?
Liam’s story is one example of just how ICE operates. School officials in Minnesota say that the pre-kindergarten student was used “as bait” by ICE, in an apparent attempt to gain access to the adults inside the private house where he lived. That act, the use of a boy too young to understand the political game in which he became a pawn, mirrors, in a perverse and deeply disturbing way, the power of a photograph. The photograph of this child soon became the vehicle to stir empathy and compassion on the part of the country. (The Washington Post)
Columbia Heights Public Schools officials say Liam and his father were apprehended as they returned from preschool, that bystanders photographed the child wearing a bunny hat beside agents, and that a family member who was outside pleaded to care for him but was denied, prompting local outrage and rapid mobilization of school leaders and attorneys. The superintendent, Zena Stenvik, publicly stated she saw the family’s immigration paperwork and asserted the family had an active asylum case and no removal order, framing the arrests as harmful to a community already shaken by multiple detentions of students.
Read that last sentence again .. .detention of “students.”
And now an update on the child who is in a detention center in Texas, far from home, from family, from school where his teacher, Ella Sullivan, was quoted as saying, “He comes into class every day, and he just brightens the room. His friends haven’t asked about him yet, but I know that they’ll catch on.”
Joaquim Castro and Jasmine Crockett visited the Texas detention center last week, and Castro spoke of seeing Liam and his father. The child was asleep in his dad’s arms, and the father told Castro this: “Liam is depressed and sleeping a lot. He no longer wants to eat.” He went on to say that at one point, Liam asked where his book bag and his bunny hat were.
The little boy with the middle name Conejo (meaning rabbit), wearing the blue rabbit hat, may well become a national symbol, one of shame. One can only hope this image will shake the conscience of those perpetrating this kind of horrific act, assuming they have a conscience.
I’m reminded of a song I learned as a child in Sunday school … yes, dear reader, I was sent to Sunday school.
“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
Perhaps this child’s indelible image will help to bring about the breaking point. If a picture is, indeed worth a thousand words, that of Liam Ramos speaks of pages of outcry.
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”