This is fascism showing its ugly face. Unchecked, it will only get worse. First, read this post on Mighty Girl. Then TAKE ACTION! Trigger warning: Random ICE arrests of noncriminals are disturbing, and are affecting thousands of families these last few months. It’s important to veriy these accusations, but I know this one is real because I read about Donna Kashanian’s arrest and detention in The Guardian, a paper I respect and support financially.

The Mighty Girl post offers several ways to support the victim, including contributing to a GoFundMe campaign—and writing a support letter. You’re welcome to borrow from my support letter (just below), which should be sent to sarah.r.gerig [at] gmail.com

Here’s what I wrote:
This administration promised us they would go after dangerous violent criminals. Yet the cases we hear about are nonviolent dissenters, a man who spent six weeks incarcerated in a country he was legally protected from being returned to after the government admitted his arrest was a mistake (but refused to help get him back until forced), numerous people attending their scheduled court hearings in good faith…and now, thousands of nonviolent noncriminals including Ms. Kashanian.

It does not make our country safer to snatch law-abiding residents who have informed the government of their whereabouts for years from their families and cruelly disrupt their lives. On the contrary, it creates a climate of fear where people are afraid to send their kids to school, afraid to seek medical attention (potentially spreading dangerous diseases that could have been treated and stopped, afraid to go to work (causing shortages and distressing the economy)…afraid of walking down the street or driving their car.

This is supposed to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” This is a country whose constitution specifically prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures.” This is a country founded on the principle that we have the right to a government that benefits the people: It’s right there in the Declaration of Independence that “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

I urge the immediate release of Ms. Kashanian and all those similarly arrested not because of criminal acts but because of who they are or what they stand for.

Shel Horowitz, Hadley MA