Letters to the Editor | May 29, 2026

On Memorial Day, New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim was pepper-sprayed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while standing outside Delaney Hall in Newark, N.J. He was there in solidarity with immigrants inside the detention center who stopped eating to protest outrageous and inhumane conditions, and to try to keep the peace on behalf of protesters outside the facility.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who also asked to inspect the facility, was turned away at the door. GEO Group, a private prison corporation that runs Delaney, posted $254 million in profits in 2025. ICE, alongside its federal government and corporate enablers, routinely trample on the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment. Unfortunately, we citizens must clean up their mess and scrub our Constitution clean. Let’s go to the polls and vote out all politicians who support ICE and the private prisons with no accountability, and continue to organize, organize, organize. We can actually save lives from destruction and despair.

Rabbi Avi Winokur, Haddonfield

The current administration’s aspirational approach to deportation of “criminals” and “the worst of the worst” invites both skepticism and criticism. First, people who are charged with a crime are not criminals — our country abides by the reasonable assumption of innocence until proven guilty. As a rapid responder to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement abductions, it is quite clear to me that ICE has no legal limits on its activities. No warrants, obvious profiling, and dangerous driving are but a few of the abuses. There is not a chance it is going to reach its reported quota numbers when we see six agents spending a whole morning abducting a single individual being released from a local jail. Where is the Department of Government Efficiency when you need it? ICE needs a complete makeover. Until there are consequences for its illegal activities, there will be no change.

Bart Woolery, Santa Barbara, Calif.

A letter writer recently stated that Democrats “seem to be rooting for Iran,” and compared statements made against a pointless war to similar sentiment dating back to the Vietnam era. He also stated that the Iran war would lead to a “stable and safe Middle East.” While the Vietnam War and this latest conflict were both founded on fear and ideological differences, at least our soldiers were fed, and there was some planning. It took incidents like the My Lai massacre to change public sentiment. This time, we have a total lack of planning, sailors starving, and our first attack was a “double tap” on a girls’ elementary school. The only similarity? A total ignorance of historical knowledge. Being anti-war isn’t anti-American or anti-military; it’s pro-human decency, common sense, and pro-future. Let’s just think about how stable the Middle East has become since the post 9/11 wars. Yet again, war solves nothing.

Mara Obelcz, Hatfield

As a believer in international humanitarian law, I find it not only sad but also appalling that thousands of civilians (men, women, and children who were noncombatants) have been killed in current and recent armed conflicts in many areas of the world. And there are rarely any honest and thorough investigations of these killings. The fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977, which were established, in part, to protect civilians in armed conflicts, have been consistently ignored and disdained by various political leaders, by military personnel, and by other people in a number of nations.

In a civilized society, any individual who explicitly authorizes, actively encourages, or directly engages in the killing of civilians in an armed conflict should be viewed as having committed a criminal act and should be held accountable for such malevolent behavior. The killing of a civilian during a period of armed conflict anywhere in the world is just as barbaric and heinous as the murder of an individual in peacetime.

Hugo Walter, Princeton

It appears the U.S. Department of Justice has gotten its responsibilities mixed up, pursuing a deal to set up a $1.776 billion slush fund for Donald Trump allies who committed crimes on the president’s behalf, and to shelter Trump and his family from any IRS audit in exchange for his dropping a $10 billion lawsuit against his own government. I have a few concerns: There was not much of a case for Trump filing his $10 billion suit. The DOJ should not be telling the IRS what to do. And $1.776 billion (how patriotic) is a lot of money, and distributing those funds would seem to be the responsibility of Congress, not the Justice Department.

If Trump and his DOJ want to create such a fund, they should appear before Congress in a televised meeting and present a case, and answer questions regarding why the fund is necessary, who will be eligible to receive the money, and who will administer its disbursement. There does not seem to be a logical connection between the IRS lawsuit and the creation of this fund, other than Trump being at the center of both. This seems to be a shakedown of the American taxpayer, and we shouldn’t fall for the trap of, “Oh well, $1.8 billion is less than $10 billion.”

Kent Kingan, Malvern

I see daily how most people are extremely unhappy with how our tax dollars are being spent by this administration, be it the war in Iran, the White House ballroom, deployment of immigration agents to our cities, a slush fund for convicted criminals — I could go on and on. As a nation that fought a revolution, in part, over taxation without representation, why isn’t there a national movement for Americans not to file their income taxes? If billionaires like Donald Trump don’t pay any taxes, then why should the average person? If millions of us had the courage to do this, that might send a message.

Bonnie Packer, Wenonah

The Inquirer’s Peter Dobrin asserts that “if the Philadelphia Orchestra wants to find new fans, it should bring back its neighborhood concerts.” Well, at Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts, making world-class orchestras accessible to all Philadelphians is central to our mission. The barriers of a symphony hall fall away when you can engage with an orchestra in our relaxed Fairmount Park setting, surrounded by nature and stunning skyline views under the stars.

Each summer, we connect communities with extraordinary orchestral experiences. We integrate free programming and get free tickets to residents and families who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend. We program beloved symphonic works along with new, original commissions and signature productions to pique the curiosity of new generations of listeners — whether movie nights with live orchestra performances of iconic film scores, or unexpected pairings of symphonies with hip-hop and indie artists. We also connect young musicians, at no cost to them, with Philadelphia Orchestra players during our Albert M. Greenfield All City Orchestra Summer Academy. Music, including “one of civilization’s greatest inventions — the symphony orchestra,” belongs to everyone. In our 50th anniversary year, ensuring broad community access remains one of our highest priorities.

Catherine M. Cahill, president and CEO, Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.

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