*** “Here in America we are descended in blood and spirit from revolutionaries and rebels – men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.” [ Dwight D. Eisenhower; WW II General; Republican; 34th U.S. President ]
This post is the 9th in a series to describe to YOU effects of ICE thugs on ordinary people. Away from the MURDER videos of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Effects often invisible – but the trauma inflicted on people, neighborhoods, communities, cities will NOT end when ICE thugs and Trump DICTATORSHIP cease to DELIBERATELY cause chaos and fear.
These posts are a WARNING – what is happening throughout Minnesota can easily happen in YOUR state, if “our” 13-year old president and Rasputins around him decide they ‘NEED’ to do it.
Following are excerpts from “letters to the editor” from ordinary Minnesotans. [“Letters to the editor”; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 1/18/26]:
A] “I don’t understand why we tolerate this”
1] “I am writing not to argue policy, but to ask a human and moral question that I cannot stop asking: How are we tolerating this?….watching parents taken from their homes, children left in shock and confusion, neighbors disappearing overnight. – and not be disturbed enough to demand something better?”
2] “I am trying, sincerely to understand how people of good will – people who care about family, order and the rule of law – can witness scenes of armed agents taking someone away in front of their children, or read about a woman killed in the course of enforcement, and do not feel compelled to say: This is not how a humane society should function.”
3] “do the supporters of our current system know anyone outside their own social or economic circles who is being affected? Do they know what it looks like when a child comes home from school and their parent is simply gone? Do they know what it does to a community when people are afriad not only of being taken, but even leaving their homes – afraid to go to work, to school, to the doctor, or to church – and when enforcement actions are disrupting staff and children in our schools?
4] “I find myself thinking about Anne Frank’s words describing how people simply “disappeared,”…I am troubled by how familiar the pattern feels: people removed, families silenced by fear, the rest of society slowly learnig not to look too closely..”
5]. “I understand immigration is complex…But the way we enforce the law also matters….A system that relies on fear, force and family separation as tools cannot be called orderly or just – only cruel.”
6] “What troubles me most is not disagreement. It is indifference. It is the sense that many have become so accustomed to this machinery that they no longer see the human cost, or no longer feel responsible because it is being done “legally,” “federally,” or “by someone else.” But moral responsibility does not disappear just because harm is bureaucratized.’
7] “..we can refuse to normalize what is happening. We can refuse to accept this is the best we can do. We can demand accountability, transparency, restraint and above all, humanity.”
8] “..I am deeply grateful to all who are standing up in protest – peacefully, courageously and publicly – to insist that our neighbors’ lives and families matter and that we can do better than this.”
9] “I am asking how anyone can watch families being torn apart, children traumatized, communities destabilized, and now people being killed – and not feel called to say: This must change. If we cannot feel that, then something more dangerous than any immigration crisis is happening to us.” [ J. W. S. ]
B]. “For decent and lawful enforcement, but not this”
1] “Last week a neighbor of my friend in St. Paul was picked up and detained by ICE. The spouse of a teacher at the school where I volunteer was also picked up and detained by ICE. Both were born in America and have no criminal history. They are NOT illegal immigrants and NOT the “worst of the worst’ of illegal immigrants purportedly being targeted by ICE agents at the direction of President Trump.”
2]. “I believe ICE is in Minnesota to terrorize and traumatize our citizens because President Trump hates Rep. Ilhan Omar and Gov. Tim Walz….Disagreeing with your political opponents is one thing, terrorizing their constituents is quite another.”
3] “..President Trump’s blatant prejudicial violation of the 4th Amendment of the Constitution to punish political enemies and law-abiding citizens is, very simply wrong.”
C] “The Risk”
1] “My family has realized that no one, especially innocent people, is immune from the ongoing negative interactions and complications caused by the ICE presence in Minneapolis. I want to present the fear, daily life routines needing to be changed and adjustments we are dealing with, realizing that many have it far worse.”
2] “We have been alerted to the risk that one of our family members faces based on a learning disability that makes it difficult for her to deal with complex issues requiring lengthy explanations. Several years ago my husband and I decided to complete our family with a fourth child, who would be a special needs child adopted from Korea.”
3] “Her limitations make it difficult for her to comprehend and address complex issues and reply in a perceived timely manner. If her bus or Lyft transportation is detained by ICE because of other passengers or because many of the drivers appear to be Muslim or because she looks Asian or for any reason and she would be questioned, she would be at great risk to be taken to a facility for “further interrogation” and because she would not have been able to explain that she is a U.S. citizen or answer rapid questioning.” [ J.G. ]
NOTE: These are NOT isolated, “one off” stories. Stories like these continue to become public. American CITIZENS picked up, ordered to present identification. [ including disabled U.S. veterans, out of uniform police officers, etc. ], detained for hours, dropped off somewhere with NO apology, perhaps their unlocked vehicle still running; property damaged, people standing and watching DELIBERATELY sprayed with chemicals, CITIZENS exercising Ist Amendment rights to photograph having phones knocked out of their hands, sprayed with chemicals, people following ICE thugs having vehicles surrounded – perhaps being put into an “accident,” perhaps dragged out of their vehicle, perhaps roughed up and threatened, etc., etc. etc…………..
this site has now posted 9 of these stories – more will likely follow – because ICE thugs continue to create these atrocities – to UNARMED American CITIZENS, on. a daily basis.
*** “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” [ Benjamin Franklin ]
***. “Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.” [ Mark Twain ]
With Justice For All 