To the Editor:

I for one applaud Ms. Filkins’s stirring letter to the editor of Jan. 29, 2026  [“I welcome the efforts to get dangerous criminals off of our streets”].

Having become intimately familiar with the beauty and grandeur of southern Albany County over the last 20 years, I too rue the impact that the unchecked waves of migrants have had on our bucolic communities.  One must only drive through the once verdant landscapes to see the impact this criminal element has had. 

I can only assume that Ms. Filkins need only look outside her window to see the horrors of migration in fair Westerlo, and immediately understand the need for the unprecedented policing actions in places like Minneapolis.

Ms. Filkins, I assume, is a law-abiding citizen beyond reproach who could never have conceived of needing to have due process and justice, having never even dreamed of committing an infraction against the laws, or be unjustly accused, and thus can recommend only the most clear-cut and decisive measures taken by the men and women hidden by masks and beyond all reproach.

After all, if you are taken from your home, your car, your church, or your school by anonymous agents of the government, moved across the country without a hearing, and then deported without a conviction, you must obviously be the most heinous of criminals.

After all, how else could one explain not having a shred of empathy for the families torn apart by the administration’s campaign, or not being stricken by fear and horror over what has become of a country where the norm is executing protesters in the streets.

Ben Seymour

Voorheesville