To the Editor:

The letter previously written to your paper by Ms. Filkins has moved me to tears [“I welcome the efforts to get dangerous criminals off of our streets,” Letter to the Editor, The Altamont Enterprise, Jan. 29, 2025]. Not the good kind, instead tears of frustration and grief for the reality I see immigrants in our community facing as they no longer feel safe at their jobs, schools, and most importantly their homes.

Currently being in high school, which I assume you also attended at some point in time, I know for a fact in both United States History and in our required public policy classes as seniors that we learn about our Fourth Amendment rights as American citizens (which many of the immigrants being abducted are by the way). Therefore I know we are protected under law from unreasonable searches and seizures.

It would only take you a quick search on practically any news or social-media platform to find countless videos of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] clearly violating this right, by breaking into vehicles and dragging people out of them at road stops, for not answering questions they aren’t required to.

 Countless video-recorded examples of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and now murders can be found online of ICE perpetrating the very crimes you blindly accuse “illegal aliens” of perpetrating as a whole. If you truly believed in the upholding of the justice system and keeping people accountable for these “heinous” crimes, you would do the same when it comes to your beloved ICE officers. 

I have been fortunate enough in my life thus far to encounter people from all walks of life as well as people who originate from many different corners of the globe. I recognize that oftentimes people are scared of unknowns, things that they aren't familiar with or have never experienced.

But it is plain racism to be fearful of and harbor hate towards people who simply come from different backgrounds than your own. I look into the eyes of friends and strangers and see the same fears, the same uncertainties of what to wear to school tomorrow or the same love for a certain song.

I urge Ms. Filkins and the people reading this letter: Remember, in a time like this where it seems like there is only division, to instead see humanity in one another. Yes, these are our neighbors, experiencing life just as you and I would, which to me makes it all the more heartbreaking to see immigrants being stripped of the rights they have worked tirelessly for.

Remember: People choose to come to America because they still have faith in the American dream, and see it as the melting pot of cultures and ideas that it is — and I hope it will continue to be.

Olivia Mair

Guilderland