In an unconventional move, Judge Fred Biery wrote these words in his opinion ordering the release of Liam and Adrian Conejo Arias: “Jesus wept.” I don’t read it so much as an imposition of Christian values on the legal system, but as highlighting the moral depravity of an administration that is willing to detain children to prove a point. I’ll link to her commentary below, but a Lawyer and Mother wrote that his use of this verse speaks less to a political failing (though it is) and more to a spiritual failing. In its simplest form, religion, from the Latin relegare, means to bind together. To practice being bound to one another does not require a particular doctrine, only a belief that each person is worthy of dignity and reverence, and to treat them as such.

Many people with a more acute historical mind than I have are writing about how this moment has been building for decades. This fact should not make us complacent or indifferent. It should not make us less shocked or angry. it is so easy to look the other way or fall under the spell that “things aren’t so bad,” but what is happening right now is not normal in a democracy. we are needed to uphold a system run for the people, by the people.

I hope we are motivated to stay engaged, to lift our voices, and support our most vulnerable neighbors.

Thanks for listening.

Resources:

1. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26708008-us-district-judge-fred-bierys-opinion-ordering-release-of-5-year-old-liam-arias-and-father/

2. https://www.instagram.com/p/DUOXkrPDR6h/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

3. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/us/video/mn-group-singing-resistance-ice-vrt-digvid

4. https://substack.com/@terileigh