“Daddy, Police!”: A Child’s Cry Amid a Chilling Arrest at Preschool
I want to talk to you about something deeply disturbing that happened right here in Beaverton, Oregon, and it's something that’s been weighing heavily on many of us. A video recently surfaced, showing the arrest of a local father, Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, by masked ICE agents — and it happened during morning drop-off outside his child’s preschool.
This isn’t just another news headline. This was a father — a chiropractor, a husband, a man who had already completed an immigration interview — taking his child to Guidepost Montessori. Dashcam footage from inside his car shows Mahdi speaking calmly to officers, even as his child, sitting innocently in the backseat, exclaimed, “Daddy, police!” Imagine the trauma of that moment for the child, and then imagine the fear and helplessness of a parent who knows what’s coming.
ICE agents approached Mahdi around 8:17 a.m. on July 15th. At that point, Mahdi identified himself and told them they were heading to daycare. Just fifteen minutes later, the situation escalated in the school parking lot. Mahdi pleaded with the officers, saying, “There is a baby in the car. Is it hard to wait for three minutes?” But the agents weren’t having it.
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Eventually, the child was removed from the vehicle, and then the agents shattered the driver’s side window. Even though Mahdi was saying, “I’m getting out,” they still broke the glass. Then, with at least five officers surrounding him — some masked, none clearly identified — they handcuffed him and took him away.
Let that sink in. This was outside a preschool. Children, teachers, parents — all present. The school even had to go into a “soft lockdown” because of the chaos and fear that erupted. One grandparent who witnessed the event described it as “heartless.” And honestly, it’s hard to find a better word.
ICE later justified their actions, saying Mahdi had overstayed a student visa — a claim his family disputes, stating he was in the final stages of obtaining a green card through his marriage to a U.S. citizen. But even if there was an issue with his status, is this how we handle it? With broken windows, masked agents, and a terrified child left behind?
This incident has drawn sharp criticism from local leaders, including Beaverton’s mayor and Oregon’s governor. And rightly so. Because this isn’t just about immigration policy. It’s about basic human decency. It’s about what kind of country we want to be — and what kind of trauma we’re willing to inflict in the name of enforcement.
This was the first confirmed ICE arrest outside a school in Oregon since federal protections around sensitive locations were rolled back. And now, it’s left a preschool community shaken, a family torn apart, and a young child probably asking questions no one should ever have to answer.
If this is what immigration enforcement looks like now — we have to ask ourselves, who’s really being protected? And at what cost?
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