As a young man with a newly acquired PhD, my father traveled to Germany in the early 1930s to hear opera and visit museums. But a dark cloud hung over that country even before the elevation of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor. Upon arrival in Berlin, he witnessed seemingly random apprehensions of pedestrians by uniformed officers emerging from unmarked vehicles. Concentration camps were perhaps a few months away, but the die was cast.
Our elected representatives must speak out forcefully against this ill-conceived anti-immigrant campaign embraced by the White House--a campaign that is costly, misdirects law enforcement officers away from the investigation of high-priority crimes such as domestic terrorism, and breeds hostility against hardworking, law-abiding immigrants. Most of these apprehensions are completely irrelevant to the securing of our borders.
Strident rhetoric can be overused by both the left and the right. But these daily assaults committed by Border Patrol and ICE officials against our street vendors, neighbors and friends (including U.S. citizens) must be called out for what they are: an affront to our democracy and a dangerous step towards the creation of an authoritarian state which would astound our Founding Fathers.
Ellen Sward
Vancouver
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