Councilwoman Daniels must acknowledge the victims

Dear Editor,

Say their names, Katherine Daniels ("Not welcome: North Salem Town Board member joins calls to remove federal agents," Feb. 5, Page 14).

Your recent letter calling for the removal of federal immigration agents from our communities speaks passionately about ideology, but it overlooks the most basic responsibility of government: protecting innocent lives.

Here in North Salem and throughout surrounding communities, we have suffered real, irreversible loss. These are not abstractions or talking points. They are our neighbors, our children, our parents, and hardworking members of the community whose lives were taken in acts of violence that forever altered the families left behind.

Councilwoman Daniels, when calling for the removal of federal agents from our streets, you should be willing to acknowledge our neighbors who lost their lives.

Say their names:

Elizabeth Butler, a North Salem High School student; Lois Elizabeth Colley, a longtime North Salem resident and philanthropist; Aurelio Zhunio-Orbez, a hardworking taxi driver serving the Brewster area; Christina Raimondi and her 15-year-old son, Michael Raimondi, of Somers, with another son left injured; and Lori Donohue and her young daughter, Kayla Donohue, who were killed after leaving a children’s dance class in Brewster. Their stories are echoed by countless other families across America who have paid the highest price for failed policies and a refusal to confront uncomfortable realities.

As a North Salem resident, I am also deeply concerned that the language used in your letter contributes to an increasingly hostile climate; one in which innocent, law-abiding citizens are targeted and even doxxed simply for serving their communities. We saw this recently in Mahopac, where school board trustee Christopher Harrigan faced public attacks and calls for removal, despite being duly elected and defended by members of his own community.

That kind of rhetoric does not protect civil liberties. It deepens division.

This is not about demonizing immigrants. Our town, like this nation, was built by immigrants. It is about accountability, public safety, and the responsibility of elected officials to acknowledge real-world consequences, not just ideological intent.

When used without recognizing victims or condemning intimidation of private citizens, your bully pulpit in our town is radical. As an elected official, that platform should be used to unite us, not divide us.

We can care deeply about civil liberties while also insisting that violent offenders who are here unlawfully be removed before more lives are destroyed. Anything less places ideology above human life and fractures the very communities we all claim to serve.

-William Monti, North Salem