1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing today because our country has lost its way. Public reports of members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) engaging in unethical, extrajudicial, and unconstitutional are published each day. We read of hundreds of people flown to a concentration camp in El Salvador without the due process guaranteed by the constitution. Many arrested because they have a tattoo - without any evidence that they are criminals or, even, immigrants without appropriate documentation. We read of ICE arresting individuals who are legal residents for exercising their first amendment rights. We read that ICE agents, without identifying themselves or showing a legal warrant, are arresting graduate students using tactics more appropriate to the gestapo or KGB - again for exercising first amendment rights. We see the Secretary of Homeland Security speaking shamelessly in front of detainees who have been imprisoned without due process, bragging about American cruelty in clear violation of international standards of human rights. While the current push by the executive to establish authoritarian rule is being waged on many fronts, the tip of the spear is currently the push to get us to accept actions against immigrants and foreign nationals without due process. This is done so so that all opposition will fear that they too can be taken off the street by unmarked agents and sent to an overseas concentration camp without due process. If this can happen to immigrants, it can happen to anyone. Congress needs to work with state-level government to push back against these clear abuses. While the sheer incompetence of the current president and his administration gives us hope and time, there can be no capitulation and no rest. Congress needs to call ICE officials to task for their abuses. Congress needs to establish clear rules that recognize constitutional rights apply to all. States need to establish monitoring and oversight of activity by federal agents in their jurisdiction, guaranteeing that anyone in their borders is afforded due process. Cooperation with federal agents must come with binding agreements that ICE agents will operate within acceptable boundaries (e.g., will clearly identify themselves, present proper warrants, and give detainees appropriate access to counsel in their local jurisdiction prior to any removal from the state’s jurisdiction). There are many issues to address and these are troubling times for our country, but the issue of the rule of law and due process for all may be the most important at this moment.