Feelings get heated over ICE

Reporting on protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement would have one believe that this is the will of the majority [“Protesters: Keep ICE from practicing in Town of Islip shooting range,” News, Aug. 11]. With my marginal research, I don’t believe that to be true.

I want more ICE everywhere and fully support these brave men and women in their battles. People who have entered our country illegally should be deported just for being here. To me, having committed other crimes is not necessary. ICE is assigned to arrest those with violent crimes first, but if others here without legal permission are caught peripherally, that’s fine, too. It doesn’t matter how long they have been here or what they’re doing in a job, they are still here illegally.

I believe they should be harassed and made uncomfortable and fearful at every turn. All benefits should be denied. Self-deportation will make ICE’s job easier. This is the fault of the previous administration. Now, we have a big job to do.

— Frank Grunseich, Deer Park

I visited the Anne Frank House re-creation in Manhattan to get a better understanding of what my family members experienced in the concentration camps. Walking through the attic where Anne and her family lived made me feel their fears. Watching newsreel footage of Jewish people being taken to “work camps” was extremely upsetting.

The events in Islip, where masked men in unmarked vans with no identification and no arrest warrants grab “Latinos” from their homes, jobs, and immigration court appearances, eerily resemble the early days of the Nazi regime. Many of these individuals, who have been here for decades, are not felony criminals. They are valued community members who work and pay taxes.

Instead of instilling fear like Anne Frank experienced, we should provide them with a pathway to legal residency. ICE’s behavior is reminiscent of the Nazi police and should never be condoned or normalized.

ICE has been using the Islip shooting range since 2000, but ICE’s recent tactics are unprecedented and unconstitutional. They’re denying due process to the people they’re picking up. The fear in our communities is palpable. The town should end its contract with ICE as a protest against ICE’s tactics and in support of their constituents “Islip keeps ICE’s shooting range contract,” News, Aug. 13].

— Alan Kurek, East Islip

A reader said it’s only a matter of time that we will lose our own freedoms [“Many takes on ICE, immigration,” Letters, July 30]. Well, we already have lost some. Taxes are increasing, crime is up in some places, and part of it is because our borders were crossed illegally over the past four years.

I favor proper immigration since my ancestors came here that way. But immigrants who entered our country illegally must go — now. Some have attacked American citizens. Is this what we want? I do not. So, I favor deportation, and I don’t think it’s moving fast enough.

— Charles Gyss, Dix Hills

The letters show how passionate readers have become about ICE. The hateful rhetoric of President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have obfuscated immigration policies. ICE isn’t the Nazis creating a Holocaust as a Final Solution to undocumented immigrants; its enforcers have a difficult, largely unpopular job of locating and bringing those immigrants to justice. However, remember anofficial DHS post saying “Coming soon!” with a photo of huge alligators in ICE caps patrolling a barbed wire, fenced prison?

Trump unfortunately has corralled all immigrants into the same camp: He says on social media that he ordered “the single largest mass deportation program in history,” imprisoning the “worst of the worst” in an “Alligator Alcatraz.” Repeated hyperbole like “without the brave heroes of ICE . . . we wouldn’t have a country!” has polarized the debate on immigration.

In June, the Cato Institute reported that 93% of undocumented immigrants had no violent convictions and 65% had no convictions. Until we stop identifying all immigrants as violent criminals, reform will remain where it’s been, in a congressional trash bin. Our government leaders need to respect both debate sides lest they lose our respect.

— Hank Cierski, Port Jefferson Station

I am surprised by the unenlightened opinions that people have about our immigration problem. Everyone seems to think they’re experts until something happens in their family. These immigrants are here illegally just by the way they entered the United States. Now, we have to fix this problem before more people are injured or killed by people who came here illegally.

We should all be grateful to ICE for doing its job. My prayer is that no one should have to deal with a death or injury caused by an immigrant who came here illegally. This must be dealt with swiftly. The whole story cannot be told with a two- or three-minute video on a news channel.

— Joseph Bello, New Hyde Park

ICE did not respond to Newsday’s questions about how many convictions were for trivial offenses [“ICE: Over 1,600 on LI with convictions arrested,” News, Aug. 11].

These arrests are, of course, part of the Trump administration’s effort to demonize immigrants. The hypocrisy of this policy is evident: a 2012 Department of Justice survey found that one-third of adult citizens have a criminal record. It would therefore appear that one of three Americans might be eligible for deportation if they were not citizens.

— Keith H. Rothman, Commack