Readers Write: Immigration enforcement limits, eye health

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 write as someone who still believes in principled conservatism — personal responsibility, the rule of law, fiscal restraint and respect for human dignity. I also write simply as one citizen among many, trying to live by those values. From both places, I struggle to understand the silence of so many Republican leaders in the face of President Donald Trump’s conduct and the chaos it has unleashed.

This is not a policy dispute. America has had morally compromised leaders in every party, and some of our cruelest leadership predates modern politics, during slavery, the stain of which still shapes us today. This is about whether we are willing to defend a shared common morality: that cruelty is not leadership, that truth matters and that human dignity is not negotiable.

Recently, after a woman was killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis, Trump suggested her “disrespect” toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement somehow justified her death. The idea that lethal force can be excused because someone wasn’t respectful should chill anyone who values civil society — especially coming from a man whose own public record is saturated with disrespect.

I know many Republicans personally. They are decent, compassionate people who would never mock the disabled, demean women, traffic in racism or excuse criminal behavior. Yet those same actions are now minimized when they come from Trump. That disconnect matters.

So I ask: What is the threshold? When does conscience outweigh political calculation?

Kevin Reid, Rochester

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Where are our Minnesota business leaders? We’ve seen federal agents aggressively detain a mix of not only worst-of-the-worst illegal immigrants but also immigrants without convictions (over 70% of detainees, according to the Cato Institute) and U.S. citizens alike. While I can applaud the apprehension of violent criminals, the approach taken by federal troops as part of “Operation Metro Surge” has had impact to safety and state economic operations far beyond the stated operational objective. When agents are targeting operations on school grounds, churches home to asylum-seeking refugees, day care centers and other places of employment, I must wonder: At what point will our Minnesota business community step up?

For far too long our business community has benefited from immigrant labor while politicians have used it as a political game to curry outrage. From the processing plants of Hormel and Cargill to Target’s retail workforce, there’s bound to be an increasing impact not only on employees but also their operations. When will our business community, long celebrated for its high per capita concentration of Fortune 500 companies, speak up on its own or through business advocacy entities like the Chamber of Commerce or the Minnesota Business Partnership and demand action from our politicians?

Zach Schwartz, Minneapolis

I am so tired of hearing people say, “I would never end a friendship over politics!” As if this was 1976 and we were talking about Jimmy Carter versus Gerald Ford.

This is not the world we grew up with. Did your Republican parents have friends who were Democrats? Good for you! My Democratic parents had Republican friends, too! But the world has changed. As recently as 2012, the GOP’s presidential nominee was Mitt Romney, a man I’d never vote for, but who I respected as an American who wanted what was best for the country. He just had different ideas of how to get there. That’s what politics used to be. A debate of ideas and methods, all for the common good.

Today, the GOP has been hijacked by a movement that only wants what’s best for themselves. That includes enriching their families and associates and turning the power of the state against anyone who might have other ideas of how things should be run.

If you look at today’s political climate and say, “Well, the Democrats have changed so much,” here’s the truth: Nope. Google “the Overton window” if you don’t understand what I’m saying.

Ronald Reagan would be drummed out of the GOP today. Richard Nixon — who helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency, for heaven’s sake — would be branded “woke” by Vice President JD Vance. Dwight Eisenhower warned us about bending the knee to the military-industrial complex. Today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would use that to strip Ike of his rank and pension.

Patrick Donnelly, Minneapolis

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Minnesotans are facing an unsettling moment. As the federal government directs its attention — and too often its hostility — toward our state, emotions are understandably running high. The protests filling our streets reflect a deep and necessary urgency. Their voices matter, and their presence is vital in any functioning democracy.

But in this moment of justified anger, I hope we can also remember something quieter and harder: The people on the other side of these conflicts are still our neighbors. Some are caught up in the protests themselves. Others are bracing for the loss of day care assistance, food support or other basic services. And yes, some are the very people whose votes or online rhetoric feel incomprehensible or cruel. Yet they, too, live next door. They share our grocery aisles, our schools, our weather and our future.

It is tempting to imagine that a one‑party nation would be simpler, cleaner or safer. But echo chambers do not produce wisdom. We can see the consequences of that dynamic playing out nationally right now. If we respond by abandoning our own commitment to pluralism, we risk repeating the same mistakes.

Anthony Albright, Dayton

Nearly all of us wake up in the dark and, upon getting out of bed or straining, momentarily see the blood vessels inside our own eyes. I, however, see meticulously patterned laser tack welds that have been with me for over 10 years.

It was Christmas Eve day, and I woke up and my right eye could see only black and dark gray, blind. I drove one-eyed to my eye doctor and was taken in immediately. Within minutes I was told I was not going home and to call my wife to take me as fast as possible to the Philips Eye Institute. Christmas Eve found it closed, but they were waiting for me — a nurse, surgeon, anesthetist, janitor and a kind policeman who helped my wife. I was hurried into an operating room and soon was sedated with a worried wife waiting. I had a torn, collapsed and detached retina. They worked a miracle on me. I woke up with a patch-covered eye and was told to meet the eye doctor the next day, Christmas, in a parking lot near Midtown. He took me into the closed building and removed the patch. I could see! Now I have a small blur down the middle but have 20/25 vision to this day.

To see that Philips Eye Institute is no longer open is a great loss for many (“Emergency eye care is disappearing when it’s most needed,” Strib Voices, Jan. 12). To think that others like me will not receive the care I did over a decade ago is disgusting to me. As our health care system has eroded, Medicare and Medicaid are stunted and medical research is curtailed, I ask, what have we done? Why? Pay attention, because it may be the care you need that is gone next.