It’s incredible to see the outpouring of support for Oakmont resident José Flores (“Fundraiser for family of Oakmont man detained by ICE raises more than $75K,” Feb. 2, TribLive). He fled Nicaragua and with an active asylum case, work permit and no criminal record, he worked at Oakmont Bakery. Nevertheless, because of the bloated ICE budget and push for officers to make quotas, he now sits in an ICE jail.
The American people are doing what we can to stop ICE terror. Neighbors are holding fundraisers, thousands are getting trained as constitutional legal observers and our demonstrations are helping get people — like 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos (with the bunny ears hat and Spiderman backpack) — released from detention.
This is not a problem that we can solve one GoFundMe at a time. It is widespread, terrorizing communities and making a mockery of the Constitution.
ICE has already been fully funded for the next three years. Its current budget surpasses that of all local and state law enforcement annual expenditures across the entire country combined. More money for training and body cameras isn’t going to solve this problem. ICE has that money now. The officers who killed citizens Renee Good and Alex Peretti were filmed and had been on the force for years.
Does anyone, including our senators, think that giving ICE a big bonus for the job they’ve done will result in them drawing down? Or, will they send even more masked and armed agents into even more communities, schools and workplaces to detain and jail whoever they can get their hands on?
Nikki Kemp
Lawrenceville