We’re betraying protected immigrants
A Trump-supporting friend asked why I went to the No Kings protest. I told him about my Venezuelan friends who left their home and good jobs in Venezuela (architect and nurse) to bring their family to a safe place. Now he works at Walmart, she works at Walgreens, and they’re thankful to be here. They came legally, were granted work permits and TPS (Temporary Protected Status) through Oct. 2, 2026, and applied for asylum (case pending). They spent their life savings on the move (airline tickets for four, rented and furnished a house and purchased two vehicles). Then Trump breached the contract by canceling their TPS and revoking their work permits. They’ll be losing their jobs in the near future, along with hundreds of thousands of other Venezuelans.
When I finished telling my friend the awful story he replied, “the T in TPS means Temporary.” Sadly I suspect nine out of 10 Trump supporters would have a similar cold-hearted reply. I’m all for a strong border and I support deporting folks back to their home country if they don’t have legal authorization to be here. However 350,000 Venezuelans who are here legally just had the rug pulled out from under them by Trump’s breach of contract. The Supreme Court gave their blessing so most Trump supporters don’t see a problem. However what’s legal isn’t always what’s right.
We used to be a nation that honored our commitments. Now the world knows we are not.
Steve Hartman Windermere
Reaction to ICE raids is extreme
The Spanish philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I would add that those who don’t remember the past often make fools of themselves, with their overexuberance.
Cries of the death of democracy, Impeachment for Trump, etc., over his sending National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles are extreme, to say the least. I am old enough to remember when National Guard troops were being sent to numerous American cities during the late ’60s and early ’70s to quell race and antiwar riots. In each of these instances, democracy didn’t die and the Republic prevailed.
Whether or not you agree with what the ICE agents are doing, there should be no doubt in your mind that when concrete curbs are shattered to provide rocks to throw at law-enforcement officers; cars are set on fire; and Molotov cocktails are thrown, all of which happened in Los Angeles over the past couple of weeks, that is not the definition of a peaceful protest. Those who protest the loudest in defense of these demonstrators need to read the First Amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of … the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” The key word here is peaceably.
The English language is fluid in that new words are coined each year and sometimes definitions are broadened to meet the changes in society. If we, as a nation, try to change the definition of the word peace in the First Amendment to the Constitution, then democracy will indeed die.
Bill Andrews Orlando
Should all law enforcement officers be masked?
One letter-writer’s opinion that it’s acceptable for ICE officers to wear masks so they won’t be “doxed” isn’t logical (“Agents’ identities must stay hidden,” June 20), Using that logic, all police should wear masks so they won’t be “doxed.” I question to whom these ICE agents are accountable for their thuggish behavior.
Jon Lee Winter Springs
Trump’s words are not serious
We the Normal People see with our eyes and hear with our ears that this president is “not quite right” — a polite Southern phrase. Just Wednesday, he was on the White House lawn bragging about two flagpoles he’s having installed there. Never mind that a flag always flies above the White House. With the workers lined up behind him, he looked at them and pronounced: Just because you’re on TV with me, a producer will surely pick out one of you and make him a star. (I kid you not.) Then, he used the news conference to berate Jerome Powell, cChairman of the Federal Reserve, for refusing Trump’s demands to lower interest rates. Trump wants this to offset inflationary problems with his tariffs. Answering questions from the press about whether or not he’d bomb Iran, he said, “I might, I might not, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Uh-huh.
Will we let someone like that decide to bomb a country without congressional approval? When will the powers in Washington dare to declare Trump is “not quite right” and move to impeach?
Jean Duhon Hanson Dundee
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