Readers Write: Immigration enforcement, antisemitism, Minneapolis City Council

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I really don’t recognize our country anymore. The degree to which this administration will go to demonstrate its cruelty and inhumanity is beyond my comprehension.

This morning I was sitting in an immigration courtroom at the Federal Building near Fort Snelling — something I do regularly as a volunteer observer — when I heard a commotion out in the hall and then a primal scream that sent shivers down my spine. My friend sitting next to me whispered in my ear, “They’re doing it — they’re making an arrest!” As we left our courtroom later, we passed through a waiting room full of families — little children included — and all of them had just witnessed the traumatic arrest of someone who had done nothing more than show up at the courthouse as requested, just like they had.

For those of you who didn’t see the recent article in the Star Tribune (“ICE agents wait in hallways of immigration court as Trump seeks to deliver on mass arrest pledge,” May 21) what I heard outside that courtroom was an example of the bait-and-switch tactics of the Department of Homeland Security. An immigrant, who has been asked to check in regularly with the court as she awaits a hearing regarding her plea for asylum, shows up as requested; to her surprise, the government attorney dismisses her case, and the judge tells her, “You’re free to go.” But when she steps outside that courtroom, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is waiting to arrest her, and — because the case has just been dismissed — she no longer can claim asylum and will most certainly be deported. It’s a cynical ploy on the part of the government and beneath the dignity of the world’s greatest democracy.

These are not the actions of a healthy democracy. These are the actions of a hateful few who hope to intimidate and frighten the most vulnerable in our society. All of these people deserve due process and they are being denied this simplest of human freedoms.

When you witness something like this, it is shocking. But every one of us — every American — needs to know what is being done in our names. Every day. In St. Paul. Is this something we are proud of? Is this the America we aspire to be?

Sandy Wolfe Wood, Stillwater

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As an attorney and concerned citizen, I urge Congress to act swiftly to extend humanitarian parole and create a pathway to lawful permanent residency for Ukrainian nationals currently residing in the United States.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, approximately 270,000 Ukrainians have been admitted under humanitarian parole, according to Department of Homeland Security data. Without legislative or administrative action, tens of thousands now face legal uncertainty and possible displacement in the coming months.

This is not without precedent. The United States has a bipartisan tradition of adjusting status for displaced populations who have arrived under emergency conditions — Cuban nationals under the Cuban Adjustment Act, Vietnamese refugees through postwar resettlement programs and Afghans under Operation Allies Welcome. Ukrainian parolees deserve similar consideration.

I encourage Minnesotans of all political backgrounds to contact their representatives in Congress and urge them to extend parole protections and create a permanent status solution for our Ukrainian neighbors.

John Schrager, White Bear Lake

The budget bill that recently passed in the U.S. House reflects what really matters to Republicans. The Medicare and Medicaid cuts hidden in the bill are attacks on seniors, children, working poor and the disabled to give the wealthiest citizens huge tax breaks. These cuts will be devastating to those groups affected. Of course, as Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst recently said, “We are all going to die” — just some sooner than others!

Jim Smola, Apple Valley

A writer in Tuesday’s Star Tribune says that Jews are under attack “because of the actions of the current Israeli government” (“We are people, not conspirators,” Readers Write). She tells us that she is “a strong Zionist” who believes “Jews deserve and need a homeland of our own.” Clearly the writer understands what it means to be a Zionist, for that is the very definition of Zionism. But at the same time it is equally clear that she does not recognize the motivation behind the recent attacks in D.C. and in Colorado. In both attacks the perpetrators targeted their victims because they were believed to be “Zionists.” In other words, people who support the idea of a Jewish homeland. It was for that reason alone they supposedly deserved to die.

Ronald Haskvitz, Minnetonka

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Tragedy No. 1: The D.C. ambush: An American Jew and an Israeli Christian were killed in cold blood.

Tragedy No. 2: A Colorado flamethrower targeted Jews, and burn victims were hospitalized.

These attacks should have been headline news on Page 1. Yet the Star Tribune buried the atrocities and published one headline quoting and amplifying the murderer’s antisemitism.

Andrea Kaufman, Edina

Elyse Rabinowitz, Eden Prairie

I was relieved to see that Aisha Chughtai did not receive the DFL nomination for the Minneapolis City Council this year. When you look at her Facebook page, there’s a photo from 2019 of Chughtai smiling and holding a large sign that says “Eat the rich.” This from the current vice president of the Minneapolis City Council. As a lifelong Democrat I believe in people working together to find solutions to our problems, and Chughtai has shown no interest in doing so. Minneapolis needs everyone’s help, rich and poor alike, not crass, childish rhetoric.

Rick Groger, Minneapolis

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