ICE agents in Minnesota have detained Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria, who was with his 2-year-old daughter at the time. She is not the first child ICE has taken. The news follows the abduction of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was also recently detained by ICE with his father. They were both sent to a detention center in Texas.
Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis was detained by ICE after agents followed Tipan-Echeverria to his suburban home in Minnesota. According to his account, ICE agents followed him home and broke into his house via a window, taking his daughter with them. The Department of Homeland Security claims Tipan-Echeverria is here illegally from Ecuador, and was also driving erratically while ICE agents followed him.
DHS also claims Tipan-Echeverria was uncooperative. Agents allegedly tried giving the 2-year-old to her mother, who refused, according to the DHS report. Bystanders watching the incident threw various objects at ICE agents, who began crowd control. Despite a judge’s ruling, Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis remains in custody. Now, many are raising questions about the morality and ethical actions of ICE as they continue to target children, and not just adults.
Questioning Morals
“Imagine being so sick you’d weaponize a child’s existence in this country. This is trafficking and abuse,” one Redditor says. Another adds their own experience as a parent, saying, “As the (adoptive) parent of two previously institutionalized children in different but equally hellacious conditions, this type of trauma is permanent. Sure, there are some things that you can do to mitigate, but it will never be resolved. And the U.S. is wholly ill-equipped to deal with the physical and psychological consequences of it because the last physicians to see anything similar to what these children are living in are in their 80s now.”
Some are calling ICE an illegal operation, saying, “They are straight up kidnapping children. Given who they work for, it’s not hard to imagine these children will wind up being trafficked. ICE is a criminal enterprise. It’s time for it to go. Everyone working for ICE, from the agents on the street to the admins in the office, is guilty of crimes against humanity.”
