Kicking in doors
MAGA Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, an attorney, practiced constitutional law before getting elected as a congressman from Louisiana. Constitutional law! And yet he doesn’t seem to give a flip about the U.S. Constitution.
The Fourth Amendment says, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Johnson says: “[I]f someone is, you know, they’re going to be apprehended, and they run behind a closed door and lock the door, I mean, what is Immigration and Customs Enforcement supposed to do at that point? ‘Oh, gee whiz, a locked door.’” Yes, exactly. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is supposed to say, ‘Oh, gee whiz, a locked door,’ not kick in the door, and get a signed judicial warrant for a legal search by describing the place to be searched and the person sought. It’s that simple. Please read the Constitution, people, and every day, after each new outrage, ask yourself: Is this constitutional?
Ann Burruss, Newark, Del.
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The Trump administration’s deportation policies are a disgrace. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that 70% of those detained have criminal records, ranging from speeding tickets to murder. The real figure, according to her own agency’s statistics, is about 47%. Legal immigrants, those going to court hearings about their status, those with Temporary Protected Status, and U.S. citizens who are Black or brown, are now targets for detention and deportation. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that racial profiling is acceptable in these cases. Rather than targeted efforts to identify the worst of the worst, Stephen Miller has given agents quotas of 3,000 a day to be met. The result is indiscriminate roundups. And these agents are using brutal force, not asking for ID, pushing people to the ground, brutalizing them, and — in the case of Renee Good and Alex Pretti — killing them because they dared to protest. If you protest, you may be detained, beaten, or shot, as well. Donald Trump’s claims that he is de-escalating are lies. Warehouses are now being bought to house detainees in poor conditions without legal representation, which will become incubators for the spread of disease. There has already been a measles outbreak at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas. Protesting against these un-American policies is one of the most effective ways of fighting for the soul of our nation.
George Magakis Jr., Norristown
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As a practicing attorney for more than 50 years, I have read with great trepidation the stories about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s crackdown on illegal immigration. It often appears to be an end run around the basic Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, which I presumed applied to all people. Agents drag people out of cars and homes without search warrants that traditionally require judicial review and approval. They are then often quickly deported to foreign countries, occasionally not even their country of origin. Apparently, ICE is permitted to operate outside the traditional constitutional guarantees the rest of us enjoy.
Now, I am astonished to read a more clandestine effort to subvert our First Amendment protections of free speech via administrative subpoenas. Are we throwing away our Constitution in the insane quest to rid a country of immigrants — a group that includes myself — of recent immigrants from developing countries? As Ben Franklin said years ago, this is a republic, if we can keep it. It’s time to speak up and stop this madness.
Angus Love, Narberth
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