Letter to the editor: Trump confronts Americans with Sophie's Choice

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 02.19.26

What if someone with absolute power forced you to choose which of your children would live? That heartbreaking choice is the moral question at the heart of William Styron’s 1979 novel, “Sophie’s Choice.”

During WWII, Sophie and her two children are sent to Auschwitz. A concentration camp officer tells Sophie one child will live—the other will be sent to the gas chamber. He forces Sophie to choose.

On Jan. 20, 2026, Minnesota mother Erika Ramos was forced to choose. Armed, masked ICE agents seized Erika’s husband Adrian and their 5-year-old son Liam in the family’s driveway. Agents took Liam to the front door and made him knock.

“They knocked and knocked. My son Liam kept saying, ‘Mommy, open the door.’ I was terrified,” she said, sobbing. Erika feared she would be arrested and her other child left alone.

“They used my boy as bait. My husband desperately insisted that I not go out, because we have another child and I’m pregnant,” she said. “His only intention was to protect us, like any responsible husband and father. When I didn’t open the door, they took Liam to the ICE van.”

The picture of Liam in his bunny hat — staring at the van, terrified and surrounded by armed, masked men — outraged Judge Fred Biery. The Ramoses are legal asylum seekers. Judge Biery ordered ICE to release Liam and his father after a 10-day incarceration and condemned ICE for “traumatizing children” out of a “lust for unbridled power.”

In Minnesota, armed, masked ICE agents needlessly killed American citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti. They dragged American citizen Scott Thao from his home at gunpoint without a warrant. NBC reports that ICE agents are randomly stopping American citizens, demanding, “Show me your papers!”

Trump is forcing Americans to choose. We can accept an America that incarcerates legal immigrants, randomly stops American citizens, and traumatizes children — or we can keep our constitutional liberty. We can’t have both.

Vince Amoroso

Sunset Beach