Letters to the Editor | Feb. 1, 2026

Two citizens have now been killed by untrained, ruthless, vicious, masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who have been encouraged to act as government thugs, as they possess absolute immunity for whatever they do.

They abduct people, they brandish their firearms to intimidate crowds, they smash vehicle windows with their targets inside, they drag people through the streets, they use battering rams to enter homes without a warrant or reasonable suspicion, and they spray nonviolent protesters who get under their skin with tear gas and pepper spray. Many have likened the tactics of ICE to those of the Gestapo.

After each killing, the secretary of Homeland Security and the president demonize the dead and justify the actions of ICE agents who are never wrong, in their twisted view. The victims were terrorists, they tell us; they were there to kill the agents: knee-jerk assertions made with no evidence, no valid basis.

In a rarity, and fearing for their members’ reelection chances in the midterm election to take place later this year, many Republicans are speaking out against what has taken place, at the very least calling for an independent investigation of the killings, which would include Minnesota state officials, rather than a farce that would be an administration whitewash.

Should those who are here in violation of immigration law and who have committed a serious crime here be apprehended and deported? Certainly, but that is not what the Trump administration has done. The vast majority of those who have been targeted for removal have been law-abiding since they arrived.

May the chaos that has enveloped and so heavily and pointlessly damaged Minneapolis soon end, and may it not spring up in other blue areas in which the president seeks to impose chaos.

Oren Spiegler, Peters Township

Professor Jonathan Zimmerman has provided a detailed analysis of the many ways in which the Trump administration has attempted to whitewash American history, culminating locally with its despicable actions at the President’s House memorial site. As a retired physician, I fully agree with his diagnosis. But he didn’t offer any treatment plans, except perhaps an implied three-year wait for a new administration with a hopefully less racist agenda.

Meanwhile, I suggest a few more: Commit to placing numerous replacement signs in every available city-owned or sympathetic privately owned locations surrounding the President’s House Site. Maybe our wonderful city’s Mural Arts program could be involved? Make sure these notices describe how the former materials were taken down by the National Park Service, and state unequivocally that this heinous act occurred during the Trump administration under its order. Pass a city ordinance that such signs and murals shall remain in place for perpetuity.

If we do this, it will forever mark these actions as shameful for future generations. I’d like to see similar actions at all our national parks and museums, but as all politics are local, let’s at least start here in our country’s birthplace.

Fred Henretig, Philadelphia

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