Letter From A Reader

Annlinn Kruger



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ICE Must Be Taken Off Our Streets

As we mourn Renee Good, shot to death by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, let us recall the death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville where a supporter of the white supremacist "Unite the Right" march deliberately drove his car into a crowd of peaceful counterprotestors.

Neither Heyer nor Good had broken any law nor had they put anyone in danger. They were killed for exercising their civil rights. Heyer by a right wing vigilante and Good by an official representative of our right wing government.

We've come a long way.

In his first term (building on Ronald Reagan's GOP Southern Strategy dog whistles to the KKK) Pres. Donald Trump openly embraced such right wing extremists. Often giving a wink and a nod, and more, to their violent tactics. When he lost the 2020 election, Trump incited a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol and obstruct the official transfer of power. As a first act of his second term, Trump pardoned 1,600 of that mob, who had been duly tried and convicted of violent crimes. Now the Trump administration is using the full force of our government to terrorize us where we live.

Donald Trump called the Unite the Right marchers "good people." He calls the Jan 6 rioters "patriots." And ICE agents "heroes." The president's speech is protected by the First Amendment and his acts have been granted immunity from the law by the Supreme Court. It is the job of Congress to provide checks and balances on presidential power—especially when it threatens our general welfare and national security. Are ICE agents being given bad training or bad orders? The Republican majority in Congress owes us an answer. Until then ICE must be taken off our streets.

Annlinn Kruger
Bar Harbor

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