America is Learning the Wrong Lesson with Liam Conejo Ramos

        

 Liam Conejo Ramos is a five-year-old Ecuardorian immigrant who was abducted by ICE on January 20th, 2026. Ramos and his father are in the US legally under the asylum system. That did not matter under the new, extrajudicial rules that the Trump administration has allowed ICE to operate with in 2026. Liam Ramos and his father were taken by ICE and sent to a detention facility in Texas 

The photograph of Liam, scared, standing by an ICE officer who had grabbed him as he had left school, shocked the world. There was a massive outcry. Texas congressman Joaquin Castro visited Liam at the detention center. Castro photographed himself with the child. Liam looked disturbingly pale and limp in his father's arms. Castro posted the image on his social media page. There were reports that Liam was ill and that the conditions at the Texas facility were appalling. 

People made endless Tiktoks and social media posts about Liam. People protested. On January 31st 2026 US District Judge Samuel Frederick "Fred" Biery Jr. ordered Liam released from the detention center. 

Liam and his father were home by the next day.

​People understandably rejoiced. Yay! The outcry worked! The social media condemnation worked! All those Tiktoks finally secured the release of an innocent little boy.
 
Unfortunately Americans are learning the wrong lesson from the case of Liam Ramos. The general narrative is that Democrats are weak and half-assed and have done nothing to help rein in ICE. Commentators have been yelling the same narrative of "Both parties are the same" and that it's only through social-media postings that actual change can occur.

 Which is ridiculous. Liam is not free because of a bunch of Tiktoks and indignant BlueSky postings. Liam is free because Americans in 1993 voted for a Democrat named Bill Clinton. Then President Bill Clinton nominated a decent and moral judge, Samuel Frederick Biery Jr, to the United States District Court of Western Texas in 1994. And over three decades later Judge Biery wrote a legally-binding order to release Liam Ramos from a detention center.

Voting, not protest, is what changes the world.

People had a lot of the same criticisms of Bill Clinton back in the 90s that they have for Senator Chuck Schumer today. Clinton was wishy-washy. Clinton kept caving to GOP demands on healthcare. Clinton was too harsh on immigration. etc. etc. These constant criticisms, despite an excellent economy that was almost entirely delivered by Clintonomics, were what drove down Democratic voters in 2000, ushering in the disastrous George W. Bush presidency by the narrowest margin in history. 

​And today people still haven't learned. When the choice is between democracy or fascism, whether it be 2024, 2016 or 2000 people still would rather criticize and weaken Democrats than make the responsible choice during an election. 21st century Americans think that a general glamorous outcry and loud posturing on social media will do all the work of releasing those who have been captured by the strengthened GOP government that these same critics of Democrats helped bring to power. 

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1993 political cartoon criticizing the Democrats for compromising too much.

2026 tweet criticizing the Democrats for compromising too much. 

Voting, compromise and hard work is what brings the world to a better place. Protest does little except stir chaos, inspire backlash, and deliver a cheap sugar-high of illusory progress with no real change accomplished. In the end after the Tiktok videos were made and the "likes" had bestowed the adequate dopamine rush to the creators, Liam Ramos was rescued by a pre-social media era judge appointed by a heavily-criticized centrist Democrat President.

 And Americans still have no clue.