ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Short Creek raid

Okay, so there is a place called Short Creek, which is in Arizona. People who live in Short Creek are part of a group called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). This group is different from regular Mormons because they believe in having lots of wives. This is called polygamy.

But, in the United States, having multiple wives is against the law. So, the leaders of the FLDS, including a man named Warren Jeffs, were breaking the law.

The police found out about this and decided to do something about it. They organized a big group of officers and went to Short Creek to raid the homes of the FLDS members.

They took the children away from their families because they were worried that the kids were not being taken care of properly. There were a lot of kids, so the police had to put them in different places like schools and community centers.

The parents were really upset and the kids were confused and scared. The people in charge of the raid thought they were doing the right thing by trying to protect the kids, but it caused a lot of problems for everyone involved.

Eventually, the children were returned to their families, but some of the leaders of the FLDS were arrested and charged with breaking the law.

So, the Short Creek raid was a big event where the police took children away from their families because the parents were breaking the law by having multiple wives. It caused a lot of sadness and confusion but also led to some people being held accountable for their actions.