What happened to Liam? A distraught pre-school teacher in Minneapolis is dreading this question that her students are bound to ask. Five year old Liam Ramos is one of her students. He and his father were recently abducted by ICE as Liam’s father picked him up as school. They were taken away and quickly sent to a detention center in Texas separated from the rest of their family and their community. In that same school district, four students have been abducted in the last two weeks. In Liam’s case, his father was going through the process of seeking asylum. This administration’s claim that ICE is only going after “the worst of the worst” is a bold faced lie used to terrorize entire communities whose members are primarily people of color. Their brutal and dehumanizing tactics are clear for all to see. The first video posted below is a local news report. Please watch it and listen to the deep anguish and frustration of Liam’s teacher, the school district superintendent, and a local pastor.
The same week that Liam was abuducted and sent to a detention center in Texas, a PBS report focused on the trauma and ongoing damage of detention on children. Please watch it posted below and think of Liam and the other children from his school district who are suffering now. . While Jesus was loving and accepting of all people, he had harsh words for those who harmed children:
“And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble…it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Matthew 18: 5-6
Anyone who claims to be a Christian needs to denounce abusive ICE tactics and call for an immediate end to child abduction, detention, and family separation.