After the shocking and devastating shooting death of a 37-year-old mother of three at the hands of an ICE agent in Minneapolis, I am wondering why ICE agents even carry guns. They are immigration enforcement officers, not police officers apprehending criminals. Many may think that immigrants who have overstayed their visas or even entered the country illegally ARE criminals, but the majority are not. Most immigration infractions are civil, not criminal, offenses. This puts them in the same category as people receiving a parking ticket or seeking a divorce.
So, again, why the guns? The current administration would like us to believe that ICE agents are ridding us of the “worst of the worst,” of true criminals, but we have seen, time after time, that this is just not the case. We must continue to protest these actions by ICE and the administration in whatever way we can. Our immigrant neighbors are not the enemy.
Sylvia Newman
Ogden