The 4th Estate’s coverage of an illegal alien leaving his child alone marks a new low. But they are not alone. Other institutions have shown themselves pathetic in this matter.
Last week Americans were subject to another round of lies about President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport illegal aliens (aka undocumented democrats) from our country. Not distortions, not mistruths, not mistakes in coverage, but out and out lies. Not just the media but other institutions we should be able to rely on. In looking into this matter, I’ll use The Old Gray Hag’s report (Washington Post/ABC/CBS/NBC/PBC it’s all the same). Even for what passes for “journalism” these days, this is pathetic. Full disclosure, I’ve subscribed to the NY Times for years and regularly read its propaganda.
Immigration Agents Detain 5-Year-Old Boy in Minnesota, Prompting Outrage
A 5-year-old…was detained with his father (Mr. Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias) by immigration authorities on Tuesday, one of four students recently apprehended in a suburban Minneapolis school district, school officials said…
…The prekindergarten pupil, Liam Conejo Ramos, is pictured in a photo released by the school system as he stands next to a vehicle with an adult’s hand on his backpack. His father is not in sight…
“Why detain a 5-year-old?” Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of schools in Columbia Heights, Minn., asked at a news conference about the episode on Wednesday…
Ms. Stenvik, you are the senior bureaucrat of a major school board in Minnesota. I would hope you know the boy is not being detained, he is in the protective custody of a federal law enforcement agent. Liam is too young to be released and there is not a responsible adult (e.g., other family member) to take possession of him. As for someone holding onto him, no kidding. I would think, as a school official, you would understand small children need adult supervision. They can run off on their own, putting themselves in danger. Allow me to give you a more serious example.
A few years back I was dispatched with another unit to a child running all over a US freeway at rush hour. The boy was Autistic and did not understand the danger he was in. After my officers grabbed him, I ordered them to handcuff the boy. They were surprised by it, but I said, “Now!” They handcuffed the boy, we transported him to a gas station (i.e., out of immediate danger) and met up with an ambulance.
As soon as the officers opened the back door, the boy ran. Fortunately he was cuffed from the back and could not go far. My officers returned with him and I explained, “Now you understand why I wanted him cuffed.” Lesson learned.
In review Ms. Stenvik, while the boy is in your school, you are responsible for his safety. When the cops have custody of him, they are responsible for him. I would think a senior school bureaucrat and someone with at least a master’s degree would know that.
The boy and his father were taken to Dilley, Texas, outside San Antonio, where they are being held at an immigration detention center, according to Marc Prokosch, a lawyer working with the family. The boy and his father came to the United States from Ecuador in 2024, he said, and each has an active asylum claim.
“These are not illegal aliens. They came legally and are pursuing a legal pathway,” Mr. Prokosch said at a Thursday news conference.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that when the agents sought to detain the father, he fled on foot and left Liam behind in the vehicle.
Then why did the Father of the Year run and leave a five-year-old to fend for himself Mr. Prokosch? If he has legal documentation showing he can be in the country, all he has to do is show it, or work with the agents to verify his status. Mr. Prokosch, when the “father” (more accurately called sperm donor) ran like a suspect in in a crime, leaving a five-year-old alone, that makes cops think it is a criminal. In law enforcement, we call that a clue. You should have learned that in law school.
By the way, if he in a legal process for asylum or other proceeding, ICE would not go to the expense of transporting them to Texas. The sperm donor would be verified and released. Forgive me if I don’t take your statement at face value. But it is the 99% of the lawyers out there who give the 1% a bad name.
Ms. Stenvik, the district superintendent, said in a statement that another adult who lived in the family’s home had “begged” to care for Liam, but the federal agents refused to allow it.
You don’t say Ms. Stenvik? Again, who is responsible for this child at this moment? It’s the federal agents, not you. We can’t just let anyone come up and say, “I’ll take the kid…” We have to take simple measures to insure this person has a link to the child, is not a pedophile or other criminal. By the way Ms. Stenvik, did your school staff offer to call an emergency contact for Liam? Every school I know of has multiple contacts for every kid in case of an emergency (e.g., they have mom, dad, and grandparents). That documents this person has a relation to the child and can be trusted with his care.
Mary Granlund, the school board chair,…said at the news conference on Thursday that she had heard an adult in the home say, “I will take the child, I will take the child.” She said she also offered to take Liam as a representative of the school…
…Ms. Granlund said Liam’s father was yelling at adults inside the home, “please do not open the door,” presumably because of fears the agents would apprehend others. School officials had previously accused immigration agents of making the child knock on the door of his home as “bait” so they could apprehend others, something that immigration officials denied.
One, the “chair” cannot take the child because she doesn’t have the legal authority to do so. She knows that. Two, how did the “school officials” determine this kid was being used as “bait?” Where is the video, and don’t tell me there are not multiple videos of the incident. But here is the really funny part.
In order to detain Liam against his will, agents would need probable cause to believe that he was in the country unlawfully, experts said, but they are allowed to keep the child with an arrested parent if the parent requests it.
“You definitely cannot arrest a child to use them as bait,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, a co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles.
I’ve said this countless times, the last person to understand the law is a lawyer. Mr. Arulanantham, no law enforcement agent can arrest a five-year-old, because they are too young to arrest. They cannot be held legally accountable for their actions because they don’t have the presence of mind to know what they are doing. Children don’t know right from wrong, good from bad, up from down, etc. FYI, to arrest in Minnesota the minimum age is 10 years, and with the federal government (in certain instances) 13 years old. I would hope a “law school ‘professor'” specializing in immigration law would be able to understand and explain this. Or is it you didn’t want to?
Calling the reporting yellow journalism insults more reliable sources like The National Enquirer, Pravda, Izvestia, and The Onion. It’s understandable a reporter doesn’t everything, but if you don’t, why not ask people who can answer a question correctly. Rule of thumb, they are teaching, they can’t do it. Also, ask yourself, does this pass the smell test? Would a cop risk their career, jail time, etc., by putting a 5-year-old into danger by using them as “bait?”
Also, why use a leftist professor from the People’s Democratic Republic of Kalifornia as an expert source? There is not a local expert on immigration law, or did the reporter call multiple ones till they found the one fitting the template? I think we know the answer.
In the past, institutions were respected for various reasons. Here we have examples of they they are no longer held in high esteem. Multiple senior bureaucrats of the public school system showed themselves incompetent, or worse yet, lying about the status of this child (no, he was not detained, and you have no evidence of him being used as “bait”). Any public defended from Bedrock Law School and Tire Emporium will know you cannot arrest a child. I would hope a Yale Law graduate (look at Mr. Arulanantham’s resume) would know that. Or does he know it, and his “legal advice” is compromised by other things.
The 4th Estate is looked upon as lower than whale feces, or even lower, lawyers. They arrogantly presume the consumer of their product must believe them. No, we don’t. The falsehoods with the Renee Good shooting. Reporters calling a citizen journalist racist by showing corruption in the Learing Center, a childcare facility with no children. Now this incident shows again why many institutions, such as traditional media, academe, and law, cannot be trusted.
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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