A viral image of a five-year-old standing beside masked federal officers in Columbia Heights set off outrage from coast to coast, with school officials accusing ICE of “using” the child as bait during an arrest. Columbia Heights leaders said the boy, identified as Liam, had just returned from preschool when agents detained him and his father in the driveway, and the emotional optics prompted immediate condemnation from Democrats and the media.
But the Department of Homeland Security pushed back hard, saying the agency did not target the child and that the father, identified by DHS as Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot — effectively abandoning his son — forcing an officer to remain with the child while other agents completed the arrest. DHS officials stressed ICE policy allows parents to be removed with their children or to designate a safe person to care for them, and that the child’s safety was their priority during the operation.
The family’s attorney and district leaders paint a different picture, saying the family had an active asylum case and had entered the United States at a port of entry, not clandestinely crossing the border, and that multiple students in the district have been affected by recent enforcement actions. Those claims matter and deserve full, transparent answers, but they do not change the basic operational dilemma federal agents face when a parent flees and a young child is left in danger.
Conservative voices — including Megyn Kelly on her program — have done the public a service by demanding clarity instead of immediately joining the mob. Kelly and others pushed reporters to look beyond the inflammatory headlines and examine whether the narrative being sold fit the facts on the ground, reminding viewers that condemning law enforcement before knowing the whole story is reckless. This is exactly the kind of sober inquiry Americans should expect from the press.
Senator and commentator reactions like those from JD Vance underscore a simple point: enforcing immigration law is not cruelty, it is governance, and officers are often forced into split-second choices to protect children and the public. When parents flee from lawful arrest, the state cannot simply stand idly by while a child is left alone outside in freezing temperatures; officers must act to secure the child’s safety and complete lawful arrests.
That said, conservatives should not flip to reflexive cheerleading for any agency misstep. The images of frightened children and distraught families are painful and should prompt a review of tactics, clearer coordination with local officials and schools, and strict transparency from DHS and ICE so Americans can see whether procedures were followed. The proper conservative response is not to cancel nuance in favor of outrage, but to demand both safety for children and accountability from federal actors.
Hardworking Americans want a nation with borders and laws, but also a government that treats people — especially children — with decency and candor. Insist on the facts, support law enforcement that follows the rules, and hold politicians and bureaucrats to account when they obfuscate or politicize tragedy. Only with that balance can we protect communities, preserve the rule of law, and restore some sanity to a media landscape addicted to spectacle.
