Ocean City Patch Letter To The Editor: Liberty And Justice Is Not For All In Cape May County

To the Editor:

The closing words in the Pledge of Allegiance, “With Liberty and Justice for All,” has been rendered meaningless by the Cape May County Freeholders. This is the result of Sheriff Schaffer’s secretive deal with the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Machine. This deal, 287(g), came into existence as far back as 1997, but under Trump it has intentionally been used to create widespread terror and fear.

With Mr. Trump, the war against immigrants and even naturalized citizens is being stirred up in a frenzy. ICE, by a flurry of Trump executive orders, is instilling in America’s immigrants and naturalized citizens the same terror that the Gestapo created in Jews, gypsies and socialists in Nazi Germany.

Mr. Schaffer and Chairman Gerald Thornton, spokesman for the Cape May Freeholders, say that only criminals in the Cape May County jail will encounter the 3 Federalized ICE agents. In the case of undocumented people and even a number of naturalized American citizens, this begins the process of deportation without any recourse for legal due process.

Trump, in defiance of the Constitutional protections of the 4th Amendment, is attempting to define undocumented people as criminals. The vast majority of undocumented and naturalized citizens in our county are supporting the tourist industry and agriculture by working for wages no American would accept.

One of Mr. Trump’s executive orders would turn local police officers into ICE agents with the power to interrogate citizens in our cities and towns. If these agents were not satisfied by the answers of someone targeted (profiled) they could then arrest and detain, and the deportation process is under way with no legal protection.

Whether Mr. Thornton and Mr. Schaffer are sincere in their assurances that this ICE arrangement will never expand beyond the 3 agents in the county jail, no one should be lulled into complacency with their “words.”

The latest President Trump action has even the Supreme Court Justices worried. It would remove citizenship and initiate deportation if someone told a lie when answering and signing their citizenship application attesting that they never committed a criminal offense. No offense is too trivial or minor, even if there was no arrest.

Chief Justice Roberts asked if he drove his car 60 mph in a 55-mph zone, and if he were a naturalized citizen, could he be deported. The Justice Department lawyer responded, “If we can prove that you deliberately lied, then yes.” This from an Attorney working under AG Sessions who lied to the FBI on his Russian contacts before the election and in the administration of a full time serial liar, President Trump.

Sincerely,

Steven Fenichel, MD

Ocean City resident