This is not about one of Vladimir Putin’s hostages. This is the story of two hostages to the Trump administration’s mad purge of people who don’t fit within their mandated parameters of acceptability: five-year-old Liam Ramos and his dad Adrian.

We have all seen — and been horrified by — this picture:

And we know how little Liam was used as bait by ICE agents to lure his father to the door of their home in Minneapolis, where they were both seized and whisked into detention 1,300 miles away in Texas . . . for no reason other than the fact that they are asylum-seekers from Ecuador.

Now, thanks to the intervention of Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), and the swift action of U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, father and son have been released and returned home to Minneapolis.

But for little Liam, the damage is already done. He is too young to understand why his life was upended in this way, or what — in his mind — he might have done to deserve it; yet he is old enough to retain the memories of the traumatic experience, and quite possibly to suffer nightmares, and an unshakable fear and distrust of all authorities, for the rest of his life.

So, while we rejoice in their safe return and reunion with the rest of their family, let us not write this off as a completely happy ending. The lives of this decent, honest family — along with thousands of others — have been irreparably damaged . . . and someone needs to be held accountable.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/1/26