To the Editor:
Re “U.S. Scales Back in Minneapolis; 700 Agents Withdrawn, but 2,000 Remain” (front page, Feb. 5):
The Trump administration appears to have gotten the message that more and more Americans of all political stripes are troubled by federal immigration officers’ venomous, heavy-handed tactics on the streets of American cities such as Minneapolis.
But it’s difficult to be even remotely heartened by the slightly more moderate tone of the president and officials such as the president’s border czar, Tom Homan, as they continue to carry out their reckless, xenophobic mission.
I’d like to believe that the president and other members of his administration were so shaken to their core by the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents that they felt morally compelled to change course and bring down the temperature. But I’m left believing that President Trump’s efforts are purely self-serving, and that this truly is a presidential administration devoid of empathy and human decency.
Cody Lyon Brooklyn
To the Editor:
Re “Our National Crisis Goes Deeper Than ICE,” by Ben Rhodes (Opinion guest essay, Feb. 1):
Mr. Rhodes rightly identifies a fundamental problem with how the Department of Homeland Security has evolved. The department did not exist before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; it was created to confront a specific external terrorist threat. Two decades later, it has expanded through mission creep into a domestic security bureaucracy that treats everyone within United States borders as a potential risk.
That mind-set has grotesquely extended the “war on terror” into ordinary civilian life. Immigration and Customs Enforcement increasingly behaves less like a law-enforcement agency and more like a paramilitary force, engaging in confrontational street-level encounters that include demands for “papers” — language once associated with the tactics of authoritarian regimes, including Nazi Germany, not with a constitutional democracy grounded in civil liberties and due process.
This outcome is not accidental. It is structural and political, fluctuating with whoever holds power. As long as immigration enforcement remains embedded within a homeland-security framework, overreach is inevitable.
Mr. Rhodes’s proposed remedy is both modest and sensible: Move ICE under the Justice Department, where constitutional constraints, prosecutorial norms and real accountability have been core to the mission in the past. The question is no longer whether this expansion has gone too far, but how much longer we are willing to tolerate it.
Paul Krawitz Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
To the Editor:
The attack by President Trump’s private army against people of color is an expression of the same imperfect union that became the United States, and that James Baldwin described so eloquently in his writings.
As we know from our history, the “certain unalienable rights” mentioned in the Declaration of Independence did not include people of color and, in the minds of a significant percentage of U.S. citizens, they are still excluded and wanted out of the country.
If the United States were to confront its problem with immigration control in good faith, it would appoint enough judges to promptly adjudicate claims and not terrorize and demean entire communities by violently breaking into homes, grabbing people of color off the street or using hearing rooms as a way to trap innocent victims.
The people of Minneapolis are bravely trying to stop this injustice. They deserve the next Nobel Peace Prize.
Tom Miller Berkeley, Calif.
‘Mr. President, What You Just Said Was Rude’
To the Editor:
Re “Trump Scolds CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for ‘Not Smiling’” (nytimes.com, Feb. 3):
President Trump must be stopped from using rude comments to reporters and others. I suggest that reporters band together to stop his negative comments to any reporter.
Instead of remaining quiet after Mr. Trump insults a reporter, another reporter should immediately say, “Mr. President, what you just said was rude.”
When Mr. Trump turns on that reporter, he or she says, “Mr. President, your comment is rude.”
And on and on …
Why are reporters allowing him to embarrass, demean or insult any reporters by remaining quiet? Reporters must stop this abuse.
Ed Hughes Clifton Park, N.Y.
Perfect Weddings, Imperfect Marriages
To the Editor:
Re “Unsure What to Wear to a Wedding? You’re Not Alone” (Styles, nytimes.com, Jan. 17):
Couples want their weddings to be perfect. Dress codes are intended to help make these weddings perfect.
I know couples who spent a great deal of time planning their perfect weddings but not quite enough time thinking about whether they wanted to marry each other.
Their weddings were perfect (and lasted five hours). Their marriages lasted a couple of years.
Alice L. Givan Brooklyn
The post ICE’s ‘Reckless, Xenophobic Mission’ appeared first on New York Times.
