Dear Editor:

By now it is no news that the ICE army has invaded the neighborhoods of Minneapolis. This invasion is meant to intimidate and terrify, not only undocumented people, but the population in general. It is a Republican-led invasion of a democratic city. Its smash mouth policies are meant to intimidate and terrify every resident of the city.

The so-called “agents” are dressed in conflict-camo, covered with tactical gear and carrying arms of all kinds. They deploy on the streets of ordinary neighborhoods like military squadrons.

It should come as no surprise that Homeland Security has been recruiting at right wing, conservative, and nationalist venues. ICE recruitment ads have featured, among other phrases, the words “we’ll have our home again,” a favorite of the Proud Boys white nationalist group. It’s quite likely that ICE agents recruited this way, with their roughhouse tactics, have a bias against immigrants and have little tolerance for people protesting what they see going on.

I think that their tactics are, in part at least, designed to invoke an angry response from ordinary citizens who can’t help but see what is going on in their neighborhoods.

Only roughly 8% of the detentions by ICE have any criminal record. Meanwhile ordinary citizens have been killed, injured, pulled out of cars, dragged through the streets, and detained by “agents” of what is supposed to be our own government.

The ICE army, as it is now constituted, needs to be completely retrained and redirected. Otherwise it is a provocation, designed to be so, by a Republican administration eager to use violence against its opponents.

Bruce MacDonald

Boothbay