Halloween, where yards become planted in gravestones and ghosts and offices appear cobwebbed and spidery to make scary fun… Children love to transform into monsters with big mouths and sharply pointed teeth to scare everyone.
Scary Halloween is enjoyable because it is all in fun. On the other hand, scary things are going on that are not fun.
Much like on Halloween, people in our midst are grabbed by masked and cloaked figures and thrown into prison. That is really scary. That is not fun.
Our laws make us free because they prohibit arrests without a warrant. A warrant is a legal document stating evidence that such a person is dangerous. That law is ignored.
To be a citizen of another country is not a crime. To walk across a border is not a crime. It becomes a civil concern that can be remedied by a process of identification. Identity can be confirmed with a destination and/or a sponsor.
People rightfully seek safety for themselves and their families. Our country ideally is a place of refuge. Our Statue of Liberty represents refuge with safety. That is scary if no longer true.
Living and working in a country where a person does not hold citizenship is not criminal. Many live amongst us without holding citizenship. The difference becomes the right to vote in elections. That is the crux of the matter. The majority opinion rules but not through tyranny. The minority has rights. Denying minority rights is not democracy.
The most scary thing happens when innocent people are arrested and jailed. This has never before happened in our country, the land of the free and home of the brave. The arresting person must identify himself, can never wear a mask and must show the papers or warrant.
Clearly the arrestor is illegally imprisoning the arrestee.
It seems that now we are living in Halloween where our country has become a haunted house and masked ghosts and monsters capture people. That is really scary.
Mary Zanger
Hollister
Well said. The waters are being tested first LGBTQ, women, immigrants and US citizens. Next everyone else. I’m not paranoid, you see it in the actions being taken. Slowly the temperature is being turned up.