Letters

In his latest letter to these pages, reader Ed Surgan defends the deportation and imprisonment of people who are lawful residents of the country [“Messy Business,” Letters, March 27]. All this with zero due process.

In one case, the person whom the administration imprisoned was detained because of “a clerical error.” Nevertheless, the Donald Trump Justice Department has refused a judge’s order to bring him back to his family.

Mr. Surgan states that the Alien Enemies Act gives the president unlimited power to deport people. This is the same law that was used to imprison Japanese Americans during World War II, even as their sons and daughters fought and served bravely in the European Theater. This act, by the way, is meant to be used during wartime. The last time I checked, we have not declared war on any country.

Implementation of the Alien Enemies Act is limited to wartime because it puts severe limitations on our rights. As Mr. Surgan correctly points out, “No judge has jurisdiction over it. Those being deported under this law have no due process right.”

Any freedom-loving American should be repulsed by this. But violent gang members should be deported and imprisoned, you say. True. But first it must be determined that they are, indeed, criminals. If they have no rights then none of us does.

“But I am a citizen,” you say. No matter. Again, as Mr. Surgan gleefully points out, “No judge has jurisdiction.”

On another note, Mr. Surgan states, “The left has a long history of violence.” I would agree that there are people who are prone to violence on both ends of the political spectrum. But the majority of political violence today is perpetrated by the right.

Thousands of anti-Trump demonstrators gathered peacefully in cities all over the country this past weekend, including in our nation’s capital. The last time Trump supporters gathered there, police officers were pepper-sprayed and beaten with flagpoles. Judges who rule against Trump routinely receive death threats, as do members of Congress. Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose “crime” was doing the best he could to stop a pandemic, has to pay for a security detail to protect him and his family from right-wing “patriots” who routinely threaten them.

Another falsehood that Mr. Surgan promotes in his letter is that our burgeoning national debt is caused by what he calls “entitlements.” Social Security does not add a penny to the national debt. The enormous tax breaks for billionaires recently passed by House Republicans will, however, add trillions to the debt.

Oh, but the benefits will “trickle down” to you and me.

They never have and they never will.

John Neely

Westhampton Beach