Last week, ICE agents detained a 5-year-old autistic girl outside her family’s home in Leominster, Massachusetts. According to her parents, she was held by armed men to coerce her father, Edward Hip — a longtime U.S. resident of 22 years — into surrendering.

In a disturbing video, the young girl is seen sitting beside an ICE vehicle, clutching a bottle, surrounded by agents. Her mother’s cries, “Give me my daughter back”, ring out in horror.

This is not immigration enforcement. This is psychological warfare against families and the weaponization of a child with disabilities to achieve a government objective.

Edward Hip, originally from Guatemala, has no violent criminal record. He and his wife are parents to two U.S.-born children. They are members of our community. Yet ICE chose to traumatize a vulnerable child in broad daylight as a tactic of intimidation. This crosses every moral, ethical, and constitutional line.

We cannot allow this to go unanswered.

We demand immediate accountability for this horrific incident. Specifically:

• An independent investigation into the ICE agents involved in the detainment and use of the child during enforcement actions.
• Immediate disciplinary action or termination for those found responsible for violating agency protocols or the civil rights of the child.
• New federal protections to explicitly prohibit the use of children as leverage in immigration enforcement operations.

This cannot be who we are.

Sign and share if you agree: No child should ever be used as bait by the U.S. government.

Photo: NBC Obtained by Telemundo