"The image is haunting: 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos in his bright blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack, standing in his driveway with terror in his eyes. The hand on the handle of his pack is not his father's. It's that of a federal agent, and he's being taken into custody, swept up like a toddler in a fuzzy pink jacket, or like several other children at Liam's school."
"All our children. Some of them have been directly exposed to violence, like the 8-year-old clutching a baby doll in a downtown Chicago park, begging masked, heavily armed agents to tell her where they're taking her family, or the children crouching in a van, zip-tied and held at gunpoint as commands are shouted at their parents. But the rest, and especially those from immigrant families, are also decisively affected, even seemingly less intensely so."
Federal immigration enforcement operations in U.S. cities have produced traumatic, visible scenes of children being separated from or witnessing the detention of caregivers. Operations such as Midway Blitz have disrupted daily life for entire communities and exposed children to violence, fear, and coercive tactics. Many children experience acute symptoms—paralysis, inability to identify common items, refusal to attend school—and internalize threats, believing they must behave to avoid detention. The psychological impact extends beyond those directly detained and will shape mental health, relationships, sense of safety, and developmental trajectories for years to come.
Read at Slate Magazine
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