Readers react to The Jewish Star’s front page ICE column
Last week The Jewish Star featured a column by Yeshiva University senior Yechiel Amar, a resident of Woodmere, urging Orthodox Jews to speak out against abuses by ICE in the current immigration crackdown.
The feedback we’ve received (in person, by email and by phone) has been divided between those thanking us for publishing the column and those upset that we ran it.
As of Tuesday night, two letters were offered for publication — one by a resident of Woodmere critical of Amar’s points (the writer stating that “this administration and DHS are simply upholding the law. … Don’t fight the brave men and women who are upholding the law against violent agitators, many of whom are funded by some of the same sources that fund anti-Israel causes) and one by a local who said, “I applaud The Jewish Star for publishing this article on the front page and hope that you will continue to ring the alarm bells about what is happening to our country and the erosion of our democracy. Jews lose in chaos! We must remain vigilant!”
We invite further discussion.
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Whatever one’s view of the current immigration mess [please see former Rep. Peter King’s commentary in The Jewish Star this week], we consider it our duty as Jewish journalists to present an open discussion on this and other issues of importance to our Orthodox communities, something most Jewish media regrettably are not willing to do. We hope that you will continue to support us in this endeavor.
— Ed Weintrob, Editor and Publisher
• • •
To the editor,
I have to admit, I admire Mr. Amar’s passion in his piece “how long will we be silent.” I just wish he would use facts instead of mainstream media hyperbole.
Mr. Amar argues that ICE arrests people purely on the basis of race or ethnicity. This is patently false — a charge promulgated by far-left Democrats who hope to use this for political advantage. ICE uses databases (such as the National Crime Information Center Database), mobile biometric devices, mapping applications and local law enforcement (when they cooperate).
Every illegal alien who DHS serves administrative warrants (known as I-205) has had full due process and a final order of removal from an immigration judge.
For decades, the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized the propriety of administrative warrants. ICE agents currently use these warrants to enter an illegal alien’s residence only after the alien has received a final order of removal from an immigration judge.
Mr. Amar depicts ICE agents as masked thugs without providing the context of why these agents have been forced to wear masks — to avoid being doxed and threatened for doing their jobs.
ICE doesn’t kidnap or “disappear” people. Everyone in ICE currently is accounted for, and you can search the Online Detainee Locator System to find someone.
Have ICE officers made mistakes? I am sure some have. But most of these agents are dedicated to finding, detaining, and deporting murderers, sex offenders, gang members and terrorists. Instead of receiving our disapprobation and censure, perhaps a thank you would be more appropriate.
What is particularly regrettable is Mr. Amar’s incredulous claim that the entirely legal effort to deport illegal immigrants is somehow similar in any way to the horrors of the Holocaust.
The argument that somehow offering $2,600 and a free flight or even expatriating illegal immigrants amounts to a “state-run campaign of persecution we now refer to collectively as the Holocaust” is not only defamatory; this claim grants a permission structure to those who are obstructing law enforcement and physically attacking ICE officers. This outlandish allegation is an insult to any of us who lost family in the genocide of our people.
Finally, this administration and DHS are simply upholding the law. Perhaps there should be some grand bargain that allows illegal immigrants to obtain some sort of legal status after a period of time.
If that is your argument, then fight to change the law. Don’t fight the brave men and women who are upholding the law against violent agitators, many of whom are funded by some of the same sources that fund anti-Israel causes.
• • •
To the editor,
Yechiel Amar’s question — “How Long Will We Be Silent?” — demands more than polite discussion. It demands vigilance.
Jewish history teaches us that authoritarian shifts do not begin with camps (though the government is currently creating “detention centers”) or laws stripping rights overnight. They begin with language. When political leaders normalize describing fellow citizens as “enemies,” when dissent is framed as disloyalty, and when ideological opponents are treated as threats rather than participants in democracy, warning lights should flash.
At the same time, we are witnessing unprecedented data-collection capabilities in the hands of our government and private corporations. The existence of powerful analytics systems (Palantir) capable of compiling detailed dossiers on individuals is not in itself tyranny. But history reminds us that centralized data becomes dangerous when paired with dehumanizing rhetoric and weakened democratic guardrails — the Rule of Law.
In the 1930s, administrative technologies — including punch-card systems derived from the Hollerith process — were used by the Nazi regime to efficiently identify and track Jewish populations. That history does not mean we are living in 1933. It does mean we should never ignore the convergence of surveillance capacity and language that casts segments of society as enemies.
“Never Again” was never meant to apply only to Jews. It was meant to sensitize us to early warning signs: erosion of norms, normalization of exclusion, and the moral laziness of silence.
We do not serve democracy by hysteria. But neither do we serve it by complacency.
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