A recent letter unconditionally questions the mental status of a rival political party. In doing so, they undermine every point they raise thereafter.
Mental illness is a serious issue, and misattributing it for political reasons is despicable. Holding a different opinion on politics doesn’t denote mental illness. Implying that a political foe is mentally ill is a sad tactic raised by someone who doesn’t present a defensible argument.
The writer cites U.S. code authoritatively, but without making relevant arguments regarding the sections they cite. No one has the right to be present in the country illegally, but the 14th Amendment proclaims that no “state” will “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” All people in the USA have a right to plea their case in court before administrative action is taken, regardless of immigration status.
To make things worse, “administrative errors,” have already been acknowledged for individuals being erroneously deported. Those individuals cannot be easily repatriated. It makes one wonder why deportees aren’t being held in U.S. facilities pending adjudication. The answer is, the administration is attempting to avoid adjudication and due process.
The degradation of due process of law is wrong, unconstitutional, and immoral. Those deported without a court review and shipped to a foreign prison represent a patently unconstitutional process. Their access to either legal system to appeal their detainment is questionable at best. For these deported detainees, the U.S. will shoulder the $6 million a year bill for their detention. For how long? We don’t know. Can anyone actually think this is just?
Many of Trump’s executive orders are being challenged in court. Many, rightly, deserve to be overturned.
It is ironic that the letter in question ran on a day where the president’s tariffs have caused the markets to crater by around 4%. This alone illustrates the ineptness of the current administration.
The general impression of the administration is one of abject ineptitude. His team erroneously added a journalist to a group chat regarding detailed war plans on an unapproved platform (Signal) for government communication. His NSA staff has used Gmail, a platform with less security than Signal, for governmental communications. They have accused Clinton for her unauthorized email server, but commit much worse crimes daily.
One can offer substantive criticism. Then again, one can choose to carry water for a cause. I would say, find a better cause.
Brian Barnett
Glendale, Mass.
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