Here’s what actually happened with the 5-year-old and ICE because the viral version is EXTREMELY misleading.
ICE agents were attempting to arrest a man who it appeared was in the country illegally because when agents approached, the father ran, leaving his 5-year-old son behind. (His lawyer says they are in the middle of a legal asylum process rather than already having valid permanent papers or a deportation order.)
ICE did not target the child. They stayed with him because he was *abandoned*. Agents then tried to reunite the boy with family at the home. The child’s mother was inside but refused to come out and take him, reportedly out of fear of being detained herself after neighbors warned her not to open the door.
With no adult willing to assume custody, ICE temporarily took the child to ensure his safety. This wasn’t ICE “snatching a child.”
It was what looked like a criminal fleeing, and parents making decisions that left their child without care. THIS is where our frustration deserves to go. We should have a problem with a culture trying to instill fear into people about law enforcement so it makes it harder to so their job. And we should have a problem with real criminals (this man may not have been, but was not acting as an innocent person should) who endanger their children through their behavior.
