We must stand with our immigrant neighbors

Believing that it is the role of the media to report all the facts to ensure accountability of elected officials and of law enforcement, I am disturbed that there has been very little reporting of the eyewitness accounts included in press releases issued by the American Friends Service Committee and the American Civil Liberties Union, both dated December 20. These described events at the ICE and APD raid on December 16 and 17.

The press releases document horrendous treatment of dozens of immigrants at the Edge of Lowry apartment complex in Aurora by observers who were present at the raid and by tenants. According to the releases, many innocent people were forced out of their apartments in freezing temperatures, handcuffed, with children as young as 3 separated from their parents. All of this was done without any warrants for arrest. This appears to be in clear violation of people’s civil rights and of state law restricting local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE.

I wonder if the reason there has been no reporting of this heinous treatment of human beings is because the reports of gang members being arrested have dominated the news. I wonder how many of us believe the myths that immigrants are criminals.

In fact, the American Immigration Council reports that undocumented immigrants are 26% less likely to be convicted of a homicide and 50% less likely to be arrested for violent crimes. Immigrants are arrested and jailed less often than the U.S.-born population. In 1980, immigrants made up 6.2% of the population and the crime rate was 5,900 crimes per 100,000 people. In 2022, immigrants were 13.6% of the population but crime rates had dropped by over 60%.

We must stand with our immigrant neighbors to fight against these myths about immigrants and crime.

— Virginia McAfee, Boulder

Administrative reform still needed at CU

As usual, I was enjoying my morning coffee and Sunday Daily Camera. I was not pleased, but not at all surprised, by the front page article on CU retaliation against graduate students for reporting discrimination and harassment.

This is, after all, the CU that brought us Ward Churchill and John Eastman, the same CU that was reported to have forced out four women of color from the education department (Daily Camera September 21, 2023), along with a plethora of other administrative missteps.

To be clear, CU provides excellent education; it has been a nationwide leader in winning Fulbright Scholarships. Nevertheless, the administration of the University consistently seems to demonstrate incompetence or downright lapses in hiring, oversight and fair dealing. The need for reform of CU administration is obvious and continuing.

— Michael Shea, Boulder

The prefight before inauguration day

As the inauguration of President elect Donald Trump approaches, the American media machine is hard at work. They are publishing article after article, all of which are threats by politicians to dictate to the American electorate how they will bash each other to pieces to promote the promises they made in November.

The loudest echoes are projected by the soon to be 47th President of the United States of America. His message for that address will be Unity. Really? We look forward to this message and will find out on the 20th of January if this time around, an ex-president will be walking away stating; “That was some weird s—.”

Number 47 will put the gloves on and dictate his terms for MAGA. Please America, let’s let the Trump organization retire its mantra, and replace it with something like, “together again.”

When the bell rings; will it be, come out and fight, fight, fight? Or, will it be, “Can’t we all just get along?”

Happy New Year.

— Bob Grimes, Windsor

Why does Elon Musk have so much power?

In the most recent presidential election, absolutely nobody voted for Elon Musk. So why is he wielding so much power and control over Congress, such that the Republicans seem unable to even do their job? I hope that one of the groups that has to work without pay if the government shuts down again is Congress. Until they actually do their job, they don’t deserve to be paid.

— Beth Cole, Boulder