Readers Write: Immigration policy, town halls

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

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Let’s be absolutely 100% clear here: President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem aren’t simply deporting the “bad hombres” who entered the U.S. without authorization as they would like us to believe. They are actually creating a class of undocumented immigrants by removing the legal status of hundreds of thousands of people who were lawfully admitted into the U.S. and then calling for their removal.

Think about the difference here, folks, because it truly matters.

Those who entered the U.S. lawfully under parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans did so with U.S. sponsors, proper vetting and prior permission from the U.S. government to fly to and be lawfully admitted into the United States. In order words, they followed all proper channels and procedures, violated no laws to get here, and committed no crimes since their arrival.

Nevertheless, the administration ruthlessly and at the end of the day on Friday, March 21 — a cowardly tactic many of us immigration lawyers got used to during Trump’s first administration — announced it will revoke that legal status and commence removal proceedings against those who do not “self deport.”

Make no mistake. When you hear that “Trump is deporting hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens,” replace the word “deporting” with the word “creating.” That more accurately describes the situation.

John Medeiros, Richfield

The writer is an immigration lawyer.

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The photo of Noem standing in front of prisoners held in El Salvador brought me to tears (“Kristi Noem visits prison in El Salvador,” March 27). I don’t know if those were our recently deported immigrants or not but the inhumanity of it struck me. When did America become a place where this is acceptable? No, not just acceptable but cheered for, a place where people take joy in other human beings’ suffering. A photo-op in a tight T-shirt, perfectly coiffed hair and makeup standing in front of human beings crammed into a tight warehouse with metal stacked bunk beds. Did she even attempt to find the immigrants who are reportedly innocent? None of them had due process before they were whisked away to face this. Am I alone in thinking and feeling how wrong this is? Meanwhile, this plays out in the courts where Trump has a pretty good track record for dodging responsibility. America, where is your outrage? Where has basic human decency gone?

Karen Fedie, Chaska

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About professor Badar Khan Suri’s arrest by Homeland Security, it was frightening to read that he was arrested by agents wearing masks. What were the agents afraid of? Masked agents only in authoritarian countries or mob movies? Not anymore. Chilling.

Anne Ritterspach, Bloomington

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It is one thing to deport illegal immigrants. It is another to imprison them without a trial and conviction. Can someone explain why Trump has contracted to imprison Venezuelan migrants? Isn’t that clearly illegal? Where is the due process? What are the plans for due process? Why are we paying Venezuela for unlawful imprisonment? How much is this costing us, and how long until due process occurs?

Thomas Wexler, Edina

The writer is a retired judge.

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The cooperation in Virginia between federal, state and local officials in the March 27 apprehension of an illegal gang leader from El Salvador is truly inspiring. Hopefully our governor is reaching out to the feds in order to bring that exciting model to Minnesota.

Don McConnell, Mendota Heights

Why is Rep. Brad Finstad afraid to meet with the people he was elected to represent? In a recent interview in our local paper, Finstad said that there had been “a couple of protesters” who had come to his office recently. Perhaps, because he hasn’t been there, Finstad doesn’t know that several hundred of his constituents have visited his office since January. Are his aides afraid to tell him? And since when are constituents who take the time to see their congressman “protesters”?

Along with 60 other District 1 constituents, I visited Finstad’s office in Rochester on Feb. 18, a windy, subzero day. We were told before our visit that he would be in his office but he wasn’t, so we talked to his aides about protecting Medicaid. One of his staff said that he didn’t know what we were so worried about, since no one had talked about cutting Medicaid. Clearly, the congressman’s aide was out of the loop. One wonders if Finstad is equally uninformed.

Nine days later, another 150-plus people went to the congressman’s office. Again, he wasn’t there, so they talked to his aides. Subsequently, there have been other groups of constituents in Rochester who have attempted to see Finstad, all without success.

Since it seems that he’s not generally available at his Rochester office, perhaps Finstad could talk with his constituents via an in-person town hall? Instead of taking potshots in the media at Gov. Tim Walz for hosting town halls, Finstad needs to muster the courage to hold one himself.

Connie Mudore, Rochester

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Last week, I attended Rep. Ilhan Omar’s town hall at Washburn High School in southwest Minneapolis. More than 500 people from the Fifth Congressional District showed up to ask questions about Medicaid, the Department of Education, and the negative effects of the Trump administration. Omar stayed more than an hour later than planned so she could answer as many questions as possible from the constituents she represents.

Omar believes in cogovernance and holds monthly town halls across the Fifth District to ensure our voices are heard and reflected in the actions she takes. I am grateful to be represented in Congress by someone who sees her constituents as partners and allies. Someone who is brave enough to stand in front of hundreds of her constituents and answer their questions directly, without filtering, vetting or censorship. This is what democracy should look like.

Across the country, we’ve seen elected officials, including Republican representatives in Minnesota, running from their constituents, refusing to answer questions and limiting the ways the public can participate in democracy. Omar shows up in the communities in the Fifth District every month to show us what true representation looks like. In my engagement with the congresswoman and her staff, I have found them to be accessible and kind. She makes me proud to be a Minnesotan. I hope more elected officials follow Omar’s example.

Melissa Abrams Caulfield, Golden Valley

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On March 20, Rep. Kelly Morrison held a public meeting at Jefferson High School. In some quarters, the large number of people attending has been taken as indicating that our democracy remains healthy. Might it be asked, however, whether the procedure of taking only written questions, allowing Morrison’s aide to select those she wanted to answer and discarding those she did not, is democratic? And is the absence of any actual conversation between Morrison and her constituents democratic? And, most importantly, is silence about one of the most important subjects affecting our country’s moral health — the Israel-Gaza war — democratic?

Suppose every child in 350 elementary classrooms in Morrison’s district were to die in an 18-month period. Would that affect her? It presumably would, but the deaths of more children than this over a similar period of time in Gaza seemingly do not. I say “seemingly” because her office does not respond to questions about whether she supports the continual rearming of Israel and our subsidizing of the resulting destruction. One guesses that her response would be the familiar robotic “Israel has the right to defend itself.” Neither this defense, however, nor retribution for an unquestionable atrocity, justifies what has been done to Gaza. Holding a public meeting that resembles a high school pep fest more than a serious consideration of our national problems does not hide that.

George Greenfield, Shorewood