Terrorism
Terrorism: the act of causing fear; the systematic use of terror by a government or other authority against particular people or groups.
The protesters and the immigrants in Minnesota have been labeled as terrorists by certain government officials. To wit: President Donald Trump has stated that Minnesota is full of Somali terrorists. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled Renee Good as a domestic terrorist.
Meanwhile, men heavily armed and donning facial coverings are breaking down doors, manhandling people to the ground, not always asking for paperwork proving U.S. citizenship, detaining military veterans, pulling children away from their parents, and very recently using a 5-year-old child as bait to bring out his parents for arrest and detainment.
ICE is indeed causing particular people to experience fear. Not all of those people are foreign, and most of them have proof of citizenship. What documentation do you carry with you at all times?
We have seen the videos. We have seen people protest the acts of terrorism and become targets of the ICE agents. Protesters have spit on the agents, thrown eggs and other items at the ICE commandos. What came first the tactics that have instilled fear or the protesters asking for less of the strong-armed methods and the obvious singling out specific groups?
Who really are the domestic terrorists?
Sharon M. Haring, Virginia Beach
Immigration
Every president in recent history has deported large numbers of illegal immigrants. So, in action, President Donald Trump is doing nothing different than every other president. Then the focus moves to scale. Trump is deporting more people than other presidents have. This may be true but it is estimated that former President Joe Biden let in more immigrants, both legally and illegally, than any other president. Estimates suggested that’s between 5 million and 7 million people. Many of these people were unvetted. Trump ran on reversing these trends and deporting as many as possible. He won in a landslide.
So the left attacks Trump and ICE for doing what every president has done. In liberal hotbeds such as Minnesota, activists train protesters to harass and interfere with ICE. ICE officers have to wear masks to protect themselves and their families from being doxed. Yes, agents’ families have been harassed. Assaults on ICE officers have risen. Outside of places such as Minneapolis, ICE is doing its job with no problem. So is the problem ICE or the liberal left? I don’t know if protesters are being paid. I would bet the activists who train them are being paid.
With Gov. Abigail Spanberger in office in Virginia, is it only a matter of time before Richmond or Fairfax turns into Minneapolis? I hope she does not go down this road. It would erase a lot of economic progress. Virginia outranks Minnesota in almost every economic category.
David Murphy, Virginia Beach
Queens?
Re “Her excellency” (A1, Jan. 18): I couldn’t believe my eyes at this headline. You, so adamantly supportive of the “No Kings” demonstrations, bestowing the royal title of “her excellency” on our new governor. I guess we can’t have kings, but queens are OK (as long as they are Democrats)?
Tom Dillon, Virginia Beach
Trump
President Donald Trump reminds me of the super ball toy I used to have in my youth.
Like the super ball, Trump is a tightly wound ball of a rubberized substance with no brain that you never know where it’s going when it’s let go and begins bounding up high, down low, and sideways with no particular or predictable rhyme or reason. It usually creates chaos, breaking things in its path of mindless destruction.
If only there were someone who could control him (Congress, Supreme Court). Like my mother who would say to me, “Get rid of that thing before it really hurts somebody.”
Michael Harp, Virginia Beach
