President Trump and ICE leadership frequently tout their success in detaining individuals with criminal records. While most Americans support deporting undocumented individuals who commit major crimes, the reality of ICE’s tactics reveals significant collateral damage to communities, U.S. citizens, and non-criminals. Facts are stubborn things, even though some people choose to ignore or misrepresent those facts. Actual data from the CATO Institute presents a different story: a significant majority of ICE detainees nationwide — between 71-74% — have no criminal convictions. At most, only 29% have any form of criminal record, with a significant portion of that 29% having only minor infractions such as a traffic violation as opposed to having been convicted of a major crime. This means, at a minimum, more than two out of every three detainees are non-criminals. Please take a moment to let these facts sink in. So, every time the administration shares a photo or mentions the name of a detainee with a criminal record, remember that for every one of those individuals, there are at least two others without convictions being held. These facts, paired with ICE’s actions, should spark public and congressional outrage. Local Reps. Meuser and Thompson, who continue to be asleep at the wheel, must be held accountable for their silence while these brutal, un-American tactics continue to affect innocent lives.
Timothy Knoster, Lewisburg