Readers Write: Protest tactics, immigration enforcement, driving while high, Northstar

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Outrage over the sickening brutality of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and their ham-handed chain of command is certainly warranted. But we Democrats, more than ever, must be more aware, more strategic with our rhetoric. Let’s recall the ruinous effect of the Democratic left wing’s well-intentioned rallying cry after the police murder of George Floyd five years ago.

“Defund the police!” was a gift to MAGA supporters, who easily co-opted it and made it their own call to arms. Smoking-gun proof, they crowed, of Democrats’ radical agenda indulging crime. It proved a deciding factor in the Electoral College victory of the most disastrous president in our country’s history.

We must not repeat that blunder with our anti-ICE rhetoric. Specifically, with absolutist terms like “Abolish ICE.”

Remember, what most of us moderates object to is not ICE’s legitimate mission of enforcing U.S. immigration laws. We understand that those laws exist for a reason, and that folks who break those laws should be held accountable. That includes deporting them ... some of them.

Where the Trump regime has gone off the tracks is in its weaponizing this agency of Homeland Security to exact vengeance just on Trump’s political enemies. Its indiscriminate, Gestapo-like tactics. And its pointed denial of due process, a guarantee clearly mandated in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

This time, let’s be smarter. Show some discipline. Make sure our language suits our complaint. How about “No ICE Gestapo!” “Unmask ICE!” or “Stop Weaponizing ICE!” You get the idea.

This time, make MAGA write its own call to arms.

Jeffrey Willius, Minneapolis

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This message is for all people who oppose the actions of ICE in the Twin Cities, as I do. It is absolutely essential that everyone contain themselves and never resort to violence or even the threat of violence in all situations. We need to look at the model of Martin Luther King Jr. Look how he and his adherents radically changed society for the better by not resorting to violence of any sort. This is extremely difficult, but possible! To use any sort of violence or vandalism only hardens the resolve of those who oppress the weakest people in our midst. But to forgive and to love the enemy really baffles them.

Bruce Magnuson, Minneapolis

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I read the news that President Donald Trump is considering invoking the Insurrection Act and deploying the U.S. military to presumably place us all under martial law. I say, good. This will be our opportunity to show him and every one of his minions the chink in their armor and exploit their Achilles’ heel. Trump and company are nothing but performative buffoons whose sole source of oxygen is the attention they garner through televised chaos and confrontation.

Therefore, we deny it to them.

As my mother always said about bullies, if we ignore them they will go away. If we are placed under martial law, I propose that upon each and every nightfall every member of every household go out of their homes holding a single illuminated candle and walk their streets. Do not engage any of the armed personnel. Do not whistle. Do not honk horns. Do not scream or shout. Do not issue epithets. Do not make any gestures. Simply walk the streets holding the candles. If we are at any point engaged by military personnel, we simply sit down and force them to deal with us. Do not resist. Do not fight. Do not do anything untoward.

John Murray Gavin, St. Paul

The Pew Research Center estimates there are 2 million undocumented immigrants in Texas, 1.6 million in Florida, and a paltry 130,000 in Minnesota. So wanting to get the most bang for the buck, the Department of Homeland Security is focusing its immigration enforcement efforts on ... wait, Minnesota? That doesn’t make sense to me, but there must be some logic to their decision. I think I’ll contact the governors and senators of the three states to see if they can help me understand this.

Philip Ahern, Minneapolis

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Regarding “Temporary protected status for Somalis to end” (Jan. 14). DHS accuses Gov. Tim Walz of releasing “nearly 470 criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets of Minnesota.” If DHS knows the exact number, this must mean they know their names. How hard would it be to send a federal official to arrest these individuals and charge them rather than running a violence-provoking dragnet operation on 108,000 Somalis?

The piece on new technology that law enforcement claims can “detect drivers under the influence of cannabis” is pure “copaganda.” It has no basis in fact whatsoever (“Traffic cops hope for weed detectors,” Jan. 12).

Under Minnesota law, “under the influence” is a state of mind (basically whether a driver feels “drunk” or “high”) and has no correlation to any “per se” amount of drug in your blood — Minnesota recognizes no THC equivalent to the 0.08 limit for blood alcohol concentration. Even if this machine could accurately measure the amount of Delta-9 THC in someone’s body, neither the state nor federal governments have identified a threshold at which one is “impaired.”

The story needed to at least define the term “under the influence,” which is the point of the report. It should have identified the manufacturer of the device. Instead of quoting law enforcement saying that it is “highly accurate,” the reporter should have looked at the study law enforcement is relying on and at least noted its methodology and sources. Finally, since there is literally no way whatsoever to measure “under the influence of cannabis,” the reporter should have found out how much taxpayer money is being spent on this nonsense.

Barry S. Edwards, Minneapolis

The writer is a criminal justice attorney.