1. United States
2. Maine
3. Letter

ICE must be checked. Noem must go. The news about ICE abuse, torture, use of force and intimidation is horrifying. Each day brings a fresh shock and grief: How has the US become a perpetrator of such terror against its residents? Most recently a man was mauled by ICE attack dogs and denied timely medical treatment. In front of his wife and children. Rep Adelita Grivalja was pepper sprayed. US citizens are being detained, legal green card holders are being disappeared. A recent Amnesty report confirmed torture and outrageous conditions in two Florida centers. Habeas corpus is a right for all, not just citizens. ICE is shredding it. ICE agents work for bounties. They use racial profiling, enabled by a recent blurb by Kavanaugh. Only a tiny fraction of ICE detainees have any criminal record. I am outraged, horrified, grief stricken and ashamed that our laws, ideals, and history have been corrupted and betrayed. You should be too. I am outraged, horrified, grief stricken and ashamed to see white supremacy, thinly veiled naziism, so-called Christian nationalism normalised and spouted from the White House. What will it take for Congress to act? What kind of dystopian world refuses to extend ACA subsidies even while funding this masked law-breaking terror spreading Gestapo so that it has more funds than other nations' entire military budget? Do you see how immigration raids destroy communities, wreck industries, spread fear and make America into a pariah state? Congress is complicit. State governors and mayors are complicit unless they set boundaries. While you celebrate the holidays with your close ones, have a thought for the child whose parents were snatched, for the detainees trying to make a life by hard work-- just as your immigrant ancestors did-- sleeping on a concrete floor with light on, served rotten food with maggots, forced to wait in line for a toilet shared with a hundred people. This is moral evil. It's a disgrace. It makes us a pariah. DO YOUR JOB -- use all the tools at your disposal to rein back ICE and stop the bounties and deportations.