{"id":4000,"date":"2026-07-07T23:36:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4000"},"modified":"2026-07-07T23:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:36:55","slug":"letters-abuses-at-ice-facilities-dont-make-u-s-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4000","title":{"rendered":"Letters: Abuses at ICE facilities don&#8217;t make U.S. great"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><em><strong>Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Abuses at ICE facilities don\u2019t make U.S. great<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cMy two years of agony at an ICE facility\u201d (Page A7, June 30).<\/p>\n<p>It was heartbreaking to read in last week\u2019sEast Bay Times the account by Brady Tillett of being held at the for-profit facility CoreCivic in Kern County.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3998\">Letters: Critics are using scare tactics to stop switch to electric<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tillett recounts living in a windowless cell, never knowing whether it was day or night, plus many examples of mistreatment, neglect and punitive stays in solitary confinement. This person committed no crime other than seeking asylum in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently, there are about 60,000 persons currently held in ICE facilities in the United States. What a monumental waste of human potential. These prisoners could be leading productive lives. Can someone please explain how we, as a society, benefit from this?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Laurie Umeh<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Oakland<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>County\u2019s surveillance is a step toward fascism<\/h4>\n<p>Your excellent reporting on police surveillance cameras in unincorporated Alameda County shows that Supervisors Nate Miley, David Haubert and Lena Tam are willing to ignore recent violations of state law, with the Sheriff\u2019s Office providing access to surveillance camera data to out-of-state and then federal agencies. Sheriff Sanchez admitted the violations but said only that the violators were transferred. Supervisors Nikki Fortunato Bas and Elisa Marquez advocated balancing public safety with accountability by calling for more safeguards in the contract with Flock before approval.<\/p>\n<p>In 1988, I traveled to Soviet Moscow and noticed many surveillance cameras. Our Russian guide quoted from the novel \u201c1984\u201d in explaining, \u201cBig Brother is watching.\u201d Apart from \u201cpolitical crimes,\u201d the crime rate in Moscow then was quite low. In the book \u201c1984,\u201d George Orwell presages a world where totalitarianism is total and surveillance is constant. I ask, is America great again yet?<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Bob Britton<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Castro Valley<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Depths of Trump\u2019s graft will take years to find<\/h4>\n<p>It may take years for historians to uncover the depths of dishonesty and corruption of the current president. Multiple surveys, studies and polls have already placed him at or near the bottom among all presidents in terms of job performance and public approval, but there remains much more slime to be revealed in this cesspool of a presidency.<\/p>\n<p>Long after the greater good has dismantled everything Donald Trump, 47 will surely be found the worst president in American history. He is more fraudulent and morally bankrupt than Warren Harding, more inept than James Buchanan, and more misguided than Franklin Pierce or Andrew Johnson, who was also impeached.<\/p>\n<p>We must ask ourselves, why do we tolerate this behavior? Why do we allow a person who lies every time he opens his mouth to remain in office? The midterms represent a chance. We must turn the tide on the man who lied.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Jon James<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Pleasanton<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Nation must end the divisive rhetoric<\/h4>\n<p>Enough, enough, enough.<\/p>\n<p>I would like people to apply logic and reason to the relentless onslaught of divisive rhetoric that seems to dominate today\u2019s political landscape. Two or more things can be true at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Years ago, the popular slogans of \u201cMy country, right or wrong\u201d and \u201cAmerica, love it or leave it\u201d were the banners of the right wing. I disagreed with them then, and I disagree with them now.<\/p>\n<p>I love my country, but hate what Donald Trump and his fascist minions are trying to do to it. I am pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, but hate what Benjamin Netanyahu and his minions are doing in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3996\">Brentwood picks O\u2019Grodnick as city\u2019s next police chief<\/a><\/p>\n<p>To quote the late Dr. King, \u201cWhen evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chris Ackerman<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Castro Valley<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Campaigns should clean up signs after elections<\/h4>\n<p>Although the election ended a month ago, streets are cluttered with campaign signs that should be removed.<\/p>\n<p>Ethan Agarwal or any other candidate would be better at ensuring campaign signs are removed after the election. Too many leave signs on property or in places where they are no longer allowed, leaving taxpayers and local governments to deal with the mess. If a resident left advertising signs in the rights-of-way, they would be expected to remove them. Political campaigns should be held to the same standard.<\/p>\n<p>If you can\u2019t be trusted to clean up your signs (messes you made), how can we trust you to clean up other problems?<\/p>\n<p>Seeking public office should include respect for the community and the law. Candidates who ask for our votes should remove their signs after the election.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jim Wissick<\/strong><br \/>\nSan Jose<\/p>\n<h4>This summer, let\u2019s do away with rodeos<\/h4>\n<p>Summer marks a new season of misery for animals used in rodeos.<\/p>\n<p>Rodeo \u201centertainment\u201d makes sport of animals\u2019 desire to escape. Terrified individuals are chased into a noisy arena, then roped or grappled by a lunging human, often injuring the animals. Bulls and horses are fitted with a \u201cflank strap\u201d cinched tightly across the genitals, causing intense pain that makes these normally gentle animals buck wildly. Use of electrical prods, or \u201chotshots,\u201d is widespread.<\/p>\n<p>Roping calves incur hemorrhages, torn muscles, torn ligaments and damage to the trachea, throat and thyroid. Many end up in the slaughterhouse.<\/p>\n<p>The Woodside Jr. Rodeo includes a \u201cPig Scramble\u201d where kids chase, jump on and drag terrified pigs.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly every animal protection organization in North America condemns rodeos due to their inherent cruelty.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3994\">San Jose Sharks let assistant video coach go after four seasons<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t attend rodeos. Better yet, protest them and protect animals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Karen Rubio<\/strong><br \/>\nLos Gatos<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Also: Surveillance step | Trump&#8217;s graft | Divisive rhetoric. East Bay Times reader letters to the editor for July 8, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letters: Abuses at ICE facilities don&#8217;t make U.S. great - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letters: Abuses at ICE facilities don&#8217;t make U.S. great - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Also: Surveillance step | Trump&#039;s graft | Divisive rhetoric. 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