STAMFORD, CT- On Jan. 2, 2023, two-year-old Liam Rivera’s body was found buried inside a plastic bag, News 8 reported. Investigators determined Liam had been killed a week earlier and died from blunt-force trauma to his head two days after he was injured, officials said at the time.
Last December, Liam’s parents, Iris Rivera-Santos, 28, and father, Edgar Ismalej-Gomez, also 28, who were implicated in the death, pleaded guilty to charges and will accept court-ordered dispositions which call for 16-year prison sentences. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 10.
Ismalej-Gomez pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a minor, cruelty to persons, tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, unlawful removal of a dead body, hindering prosecution, violation of a protective order, and violation of probation. Oh, by the way, he is an illegal alien.
Liam’s mother, Rivera-Santos, pleaded guilty to two counts of risk of injury to a minor, two counts of tampering with evidence, cruelty to persons, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, unlawful removal of a dead body, and falsely reporting an incident.
In yet another failure of Connecticut Child Protective Services, the family had an open child abuse case with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families and the Superior Court for Juvenile Matters, News 8 reported.
Ismalej-Gomez is precisely the type of person that unhinged leftists in sanctuary jurisdictions like Minnesota AND Connecticut are protecting.
According to the Tennessee Star, Ismalej-Gomez is an illegal alien from Guatemala who had already been convicted and served time for abusing his son when Liam was only eight months old. If the Connecticut Department of Corrections had been allowed to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when he was about to be released from incarceration, chances are Liam would still be alive.
In 2019, the poorly-named “Constitution State” passed the so-called “Trust Act,” which significantly restricted the ability of law enforcement officers to cooperate with ICE. The law, signed into law by feckless Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (a Democrat, of course), prohibits law enforcement officers from arresting or detaining an individual pursuant to an immigration detainer absent a number of conditions.
In 2025, the Trust Act was expanded to allow individuals to sue towns and cities that cooperate with federal immigration authorities in a way that “goes against state law,” the CT Mirror reported.
To be fair, the 2025 update would have allowed officers to involve ICE if a detainer was held, expanding the crimes to include injury or risk of injury to a child. Unfortunately for Liam, that change is a day late and a dollar short.
One of those who supported the updated bill, Sen. Herron Gaston, a Democrat, sang the typical progressive leftist praises of the bill:
“What we’re showing is that Connecticut is a moral example of what other states should be like. Connecticut has positioned itself as a leader in human rights and immigrant justice [emphasis added]. Expanding the Trust Act shows that this state is willing to stand by its immigrant community and promote a compassionate, just legal framework–something that other states need to emulate,” he said.
Question for Gaston–what is “compassionate” about allowing an illegal alien to remain in the country who then goes and beats the crap out of his eight-month-old son, only to kill him a year later?? How does that make Connecticut a “moral example?”
Possibly the most hilarious thing came from Lamont, who issued a statement after Attorney General Pam Bondi referred to Connecticut as a “sanctuary jurisdiction.”
“Connecticut is not a ‘sanctuary’ state. That term has no legal definition, and it is not an accurate description of our laws and practices. Labeling Connecticut a ‘sanctuary’ ignores the reality that our approach mirrors that of many other states [all run by Democrats] that have adopted clear rules for cooperation [not] with federal immigration authorities. These rules keep our communities safe [they don’t], respect due process, and allow police to focus resources where they are most needed.”
Dear Ned: allowing police to focus on illegal gang-banging criminals meets the definition of “where they are most needed.”
Merriam-Webster defines sanctuary as: a place of refuge or protection; and the immunity from law attached to a sanctuary. That is using it as a noun.
Merriam-Webster also provides the meaning of sanctuary when used as an adjective: relating to or being a locality that provides limited cooperation to federal officials in the enforcement of immigration laws or policies, i.e., a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Call us crazy, but Connecticut, by its own law, provides “limited cooperation to federal officials in the enforcement of immigration laws or policies.” Connecticut is also a state. Hence, Connecticut is, by definition, a sanctuary state.
In a Facebook post, Ryan Fazio, a Republican vying to be that party’s nominee to run against Lamont, wrote on Facebook that Lamont and the Democrats are responsible for Liam Rivera’s death.
“Gomez was previously convicted of assault for breaking Liam’s arm, but was released to the public instead of being transferred to the Feds for deportation because of CT’s 2019 Sanctuary State law, passed by Gov. Lamont and legislative Democrats.
“Liam would likely be alive today if not for Gov. Lamont and CT Democrats’ Sanctuary law.”
It should be noted that when young Liam was killed, neither Lamont nor any Connecticut Democrats spoke out about his death that we were able to find. None.
Yet Lamont wasted no time bloviating about the death of anti-ICE agitator Renee Good in Minneapolis, shot and killed after she ran down an ICE agent. Lamont railed against the “horror and inhumanity” of the killing. Guess it’s only “horror and inhumanity” when it's someone attacking his political enemies who gets killed, not an innocent two-year-old boy. Doesn’t fit the Democrat narrative.
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