1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

I am writing to demand that you oppose any further funding for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the unconscionable detention of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old US citizen, in Columbia Heights, Minnesota on Tuesday. This child was removed from a running vehicle and used as bait by ICE agents who directed him to knock on his own front door to determine if anyone was home. According to Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik, another adult begged agents to take custody of the child but was refused. Instead, agents detained both Liam and his father, transporting them to San Antonio, Texas within hours. The family did not know where the child was for approximately 24 hours. This directly violates DHS's own stated protocol for handling children present during parental detentions. Liam is one of at least four children from Columbia Heights Public Schools detained this month. The district, where more than half the students are Latino, has seen attendance plummet with one third of students absent on a recent day. Schools have been forced to cancel classes or shift to remote learning through at least February 12 due to safety concerns after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renée Nicole Good earlier this month and Border Patrol agents tackled people and deployed chemical weapons at a high school. ProPublica reports that ICE placed around 600 immigrant children in federal shelters in 2025, more than the previous four years combined. This represents a dramatic escalation in enforcement tactics that now includes detaining US citizen children and using them as investigative tools. I urge you to vote against any appropriations for DHS and ICE until these agencies demonstrate they can operate within constitutional boundaries and their own stated policies. A 5-year-old child left his winter hat, blanket, and stuffed turtle in his school cubby because federal agents detained him without cause. This is not public safety. This is not border security. This must end immediately.