It takes a special kind of government agency to look at a father picking up food for his six‑year‑old and think, “Ah yes, the worst of the worst, the menace to society, the hardened criminal we’ve been waiting for.” And yet here we are, once again watching ICE do what ICE does best: terrorize families, endanger children, and then pat themselves on the back like they just took down a cartel boss instead of a guy who was literally bringing dinner home. According to reporting from NJ.com, Yahoo News, MSN, and Morristown Green, Adonay Mancia Rodríguez stepped out on January 11 to grab food for his daughter, who was waiting at home in their Morristown apartment. He never made it back, because ICE agents swooped in, grabbed him, and when he begged to make a phone call so his daughter wouldn’t be left alone, they hit him with the kind of cold bureaucratic cruelty that should be carved into the agency’s logo: “We’re not here for your daughter. We’re here for you.”
And so the six‑year‑old — a first grader, tiny boots, tiny coat, tiny human being who deserved a hell of a lot better than this — eventually put on her things and went out looking for her father. A neighbor found her wandering the complex crying “Where’s Papi?” because of course it was a neighbor who found her. It’s always a neighbor, a teacher, a passerby, a random human being with a functioning conscience. Never the agency that caused the harm. Never the people who created the crisis. Never the ones who insist they’re “protecting the community” while literally leaving a child alone in an apartment to fend for herself.
Meanwhile, DHS strutted out a press release bragging that they arrested eleven people that day, “several with felony offenses,” which is government‑speak for “we’re not going to tell you which ones because it ruins the narrative if you find out most of them were just living their lives.” And here’s the kicker: there is zero evidence that Adonay has any criminal record at all. None. Zip. Nada. The family fundraiser explicitly says he has “no criminal record whatsoever,” and not a single outlet — not one — has reported any charges filed against him since January 11. If ICE had even a whiff of something they could weaponize, they’d be screaming it from the rooftops, slapping it on Fox News chyrons, and stapling it to every press release like a deranged arts‑and‑crafts project. But they’ve got nothing, so instead they hide behind vague language about “illegal aliens” and “open borders” and hope no one notices that they endangered a child for absolutely no reason.
And let’s talk about that child, because she is the heart of this horror show. A six‑year‑old girl, alone in her apartment, waiting for her father to come back with food. A six‑year‑old girl who eventually realized something was wrong and went out into the world to find him. A six‑year‑old girl who was rescued not by the people who took her father, not by the people who claim to be enforcing “public safety,” but by a neighbor who saw a crying child wandering outside in the cold. A six‑year‑old girl whose mother had to be called at work because ICE couldn’t be bothered to let a father make a thirty‑second phone call. A six‑year‑old girl who will remember this for the rest of her life, because trauma has a way of sticking around long after the press releases fade.
But sure, tell us again how ICE is only going after “the worst of the worst.” Tell us again how this is about “law and order.” Tell us again how this is about “protecting Americans.” Tell us again how this is all justified because of some imaginary wave of super‑criminals that somehow always includes dads picking up dinner and never includes the actual violent offenders ICE claims to be laser‑focused on. Tell us again how this is normal, how this is fine, how this is what a functioning democracy does. Tell us again, because the rest of us are watching a little girl in her boots and coat wandering the streets crying for her father and thinking that maybe — just maybe — the real danger to public safety is the agency that did this to her.
And the most Unfugginbelievable part? They’ll do it again tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that. Because the cruelty isn’t a mistake. It’s the mission. And until people start calling this what it is — state‑sanctioned child endangerment dressed up as “immigration enforcement” — they’ll keep getting away with it. But not here. Not today. Not in this article. Because we’re going to say the quiet part out loud: a six‑year‑old girl was put in danger because ICE couldn’t be bothered to let her father make a phone call, and they have absolutely no justification for it. No record. No charges. No threat. No nothing. Just a man bringing home food for his daughter, and an agency that decided that was enough to destroy a family’s sense of safety.
Unfugginbelievable doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Family’s GoFundMe
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-adonay-return-to-his-family
Add comment
Comments