Dear Editor,
Don Scott's piece titled “When ideology trumps safety” (June 5, Page 16) oversimplifies the issue. Yes, the majority supports deporting criminal immigrants, but is an immigrant in jail necessarily a criminal? Could they be in jail due to a case of mistaken identity? Could they be falsely accused? Could the crime be a misdemeanor for which they lack funds to post bail?
The current policy is to seize and deport without due process guaranteed by the Constitution; send the accused away, not to their homeland, by the way, but to a foreign prison with no standards for decent treatment, and then hear the story of how the person was wrongly deported and maybe they are returned. For the wrongly deported without advocates, they are stuck in living hell.
The ”New York for All Act” is there to protect the most vulnerable immigrants at risk. And as much as I hate to admit it, it may ultimately protect all of us as the aggressive administration may next go after legitimate peaceful protestors, journalists and intellectuals because they dare disagree as our rights are stripped.
Final thought - the “unintended consequences” in the piece of having ICE do their work in public is exactly what should occur. The public deserves to see the duly appointed officials charged with this task carrying out the mission. Often it is with force and when challenged by those witnessing the seizure, the public is told it is not their business or concern. It is all of our concern. Otherwise, all in jail can simply disappear at the hands of ICE.
-Richard Levine, Katonah
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