To the Editor:
I have lived most of my 74 years in a country where due process and civil rights were consistently provided for a large enough majority of its citizens, that it was easy to take these things for granted. Those days are over.
In 2025 in the U.S. masked men, sometimes with no identification, are “detaining” people on the streets, providing no explanation and whisking them off to local jails, or worse, to foreign countries. For the most part, these are hard-working people with no criminal records who perform a vital role in many areas of our economy. So much for due process. So much for civil rights.
The recently passed “big, ugly bill” will give the “masked men” and their bosses the money they need to increase this effort on a grand scale. Unless we, the citizens, call it out and encourage our legislators to do what they can to stop it, we can expect more of the same in Orange County.
One remedy is to contact your legislators. New York could ban masks for law enforcement as a bill proposed in California is asking. There’s already a proposal in New York to create consistent standards across state and local agencies regarding interactions with federal immigration enforcement (ICE) and to ensure due process for all detainees.
Ask yourself who will do the work if ICE starts detaining large numbers of farm workers in Orange County. Pay attention to what happens in your neighborhood, community. Don’t be afraid to stand up to tyranny. The time to sit back and take things for granted is over.
Louise Reavis
Monroe