LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Creating Havoc in Democratic Cities
I understand why some people voted for Mr. Trump, particularly on immigration. I agree that immigration is an important issue, but I disagree with Mr. Trump’s approach. Immigration was a mess under Mr. Biden. But there was a bipartisan attempt to fix immigration in the Spring 2024; Mr. Trump killed that. Republicans control the presidency and Congress; why haven’t they addressed immigration reform?
Instead, they are going into mostly Democratically controlled cities and states and creating havoc. They say they are there to protect the public from unlawful immigrants who are rapists and murders, but it’s mostly a reality-show made for Fox News. They have detained U.S. citizens, they have physically abused lawful protesters, used a five-year-old child as bait to lure someone out of their house, and now they are killing protesters.
In May, ICE issued a secret directive to its agents saying it was OK to break into someone’s home if they think there might be unlawful immigrants there.
They do so without a search warrant signed by a judge. This is in direct violation of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. Add this to violating protesters’ 1st Amendment rights of free speech and assembly, and last Saturday, the 2nd Amendment rights of a protester in Minnesota who was legally carrying a handgun, which was taken from him, and then he was shot 10 times as he lay on the ground.
ICE agents wear masks to conceal their identities. Police and law enforcement officers don’t wear masks, terrorists wear masks. I ask any law enforcement professional to explain to me how the latest shooting in Minnesota is standard operating procedure? How is it that six “tough” ICE agents couldn’t pin down a male nurse, and their only option, after they disarmed him, was to shoot him 10 times as he lay on the street? Is that normal police practice?
Now the Department of Homeland Security, the one that told agents to disregard our constitutional rights and has already proclaimed the protester a domestic terrorist, says that they alone will do the investigation. Can we believe anything they say? Last week, an FBI agent who was investigating the ICE shooting of Renee Good resigned because the investigation was being directed toward the outcome the Department wanted, rather than looking at all the facts.
The violence we are seeing seems planned, it appears to be made for Fox News. It is meant to intimidate and create chaos, to justify even more force, reduce our Constitutional rights, perhaps even to cancel elections. All this chaos distracts us from other important issues: higher prices, health care costs, budget deficits, the Epstein files.
This is not about solving the immigration problem. This is about taking away our constitutional rights, one by one: speech, assembly, the security of our homes, the right to bear arms. “We the People” are not blind; we’re not stupid; we’ve seen the videos. Stand up, get involved, make your voice heard.
Richard Chamberlain Colchester, Illinois
