An open letter to the U.S. House of Representatives
You endorsed ICE lawbreakers in Maine. SHAME ON YOU
35 so far! Help us get to 50 signers!
Yesterday you made a public statement saying that you supported ICE operations in Maine as 'long as they focussed on individuals who have engaged in criminal activities.'
If you and your staff have been following the news at all, you will know that ICE as NOT focussed exclusively on criminals anywhere in its recent operation and has been terrorising and brutalising innocent people, including US citizens and card holders.
Your remark is either tone deaf or egregiously uninformed.
It shows a shocking disregard for the brutality already perpetrated in Maine by ICE .
In all their areas of operations, ICE have been documented doing things you would not have been allowed to do while serving in the military.
They have broken the laws, from traffic laws to the constitution. They flout constitutional due process. They commit acts of terror and brutality. Are you unaware of the videos showing ICE throwing a pregnant woman to the ground? Assassinating Renee Good at point blank range? Tasing law-abiding protestors? Lying about their actions? Kidnapping law-abiding immigrants at their court appointments? Invading homes? Snatching a Hmong man from his home in his underwear, a man who is a US citizen who courageously assisted the American Army in Laos? Detaining innocent people. Using racial profiling. Taking children. Keeping detainees in conditions that would not be permitted in war.
ICE tears families apart, terrorises communities,
wrecks small businesses and local economies.
You of all people should know that Maine, one of the states with the oldest population and a declining population, depends on immigrants and their work to an exceptional degree.
As one who swore to serve CD2 you should be aware of the abuses perpetrated in your district yesterday and you should know that less than a third of ice detainees have any criminal involvement. Yet ice is now detaining more people than th Nazis did.
Operation catch of the day?
At least condemn the dehumanising language: it shows the moral vacuum at the heart of this project of domestic terror and law breaking by uniformed thugs who act as if they are above the law.
Are you aware that an ICE memo just went out telling agents to invade peoples homes?--which you should know is illegal.
So: based on your public statements, you support rogue immigration enforcement that breaks the law?
To see the photograph of you in a Nazi-style haircut defending ICE while my social media fills with documented examples of terror and cruelty in Maine CD-2 horrifies me.
DO I NEED TO REMIND YOU THAT THOSE GERMAN ELECTED OFFICIALS WHO VOTED TO FUND THE GESTAPO were viewed as Nazi collaborators?
We expect our elected officials to uphold the law and constitution, and legitimate law and immigration enforcement,
not to defend those who tear the constitution and commit crimes in uniform; we expect our elected officials to listen to, serve, care about the lives and rights of those in their district.
You cited threats to you and your family as the reason you will not run again. Yet you defend an immigration enforcement system that is threatening humans in your district and across the nation. And that is being used as a tool of political retaliation. (Hint: remember that Maine has one of the lowest immigrant populations in the nation--why isn't ICE in Texas.)
Your failure of courage and moral decency and humanity in this moment will be recorded in history when people study the Fascism of the Trump regime and ask: how did it happen here. If you aren't willing to stand up against the lawlessness and terror of the ICE thugs, I respectfully encourage you to step down from your seat now.