My heart breaks for Mr. Guerrero’s friends and family. ICE’s violent confrontation with him was so, so wrong — there are no words. There was no warrant for his arrest, no need for the ICE-initiated typical dangerous car crash with an unmarked car; no need to shoot. 

And my heart breaks for our country and the rule of law. We cannot have a Gestapo on our streets and deadly prison camps filling up with people who came here seeking a better life. We must come together and stop ICE and the Republicans who support it. It is a gross violation of human rights and due process of law.

Sen. Susan Collins voted for ICE. Just recently, she voted for $70 billion more funding for ICE in the latest reconciliation bill. She voted for this even after all the previous shootings (there have been 27, with eight deaths, according to Trace), even after the Department of Homeland Security’s obvious lies about events. Even with the deaths and utterly inhumane conditions in mass detention facilities, Collins sent the message to ICE that it’s all OK with her. Go be lawless and cruel; we won’t even review that funding for three years. She and her party might as well have pulled the trigger themselves.

Donald Trump, Susan Collins and the Republican Party are acting like Nazis toward immigrants, who are in fact a blessing for Maine’s labor force and communities. 

To save lives and our country, we must hold them accountable and massively defeat them at the polls.

Mary Henderson
Topsham