This story is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
While the news cycle has largely moved on from the horrific violence in Minneapolis that dominated our screens early this year, the danger has not disappeared. Our nation’s children still live in fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents abducting classmates, parents and teachers on schoolhouse grounds. Some kids are too afraid to leave the house, and others can’t focus on their schoolwork, sick with anxiety about whether their family will be there to greet them when they get home.
We all remember the image of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, abducted alongside his father when they arrived home one day, the boy still wearing his Spiderman backpack and favorite bunny ear hat. Unfortunately, Liam’s story is far from unique. Thousands of children have been abducted and incarcerated in squalid detention centers without a clue as to what their or their families’ futures hold. Their absence is a constant reminder to their classmates, friends, and neighbors that their communities’ children are still in danger. What happens to our communities when our public spaces aren’t safe, our neighborhoods aren’t safe, and now we know our schools aren’t safe either?
Safe spaces should be safe for everyone. That’s why we, along with our partners at Innovation Law Lab, National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers filed an emergency motion in our federal lawsuit, PCUN v. Noem last month to demand an immediate end to ICE violence in places like schools and hospitals. These so-called sensitive locations used to be off-limits to ICE’s brutal tactics, keeping our sacred community spaces safe for all our neighbors. But now, nowhere is free from danger. We’re seeking reinstatement of these protections.
