Letters: ICE agents need new training, direction; Wrong focus in Venezuela

ICE agents need new training, direction

I’m very disturbed by the killing of a young woman, U.S. citizen Renee Good, on Jan. 7, and the wounding of two immigrants, a man and a woman, on Jan. 8, by ICE agents and Border Patrol agents.

These agents are supposed to be tracking violent criminals who are undocumented immigrants. But instead, they are often going through the streets picking up immigrants and people who merely look foreign. Some of these people are law-abiding immigrants or are already U.S. citizens. Sending the agents to act in this way is wrong and creates fear and resentment among all the people in the cities, both immigrants and U.S. citizens.

The fear level that these agents create has reached a level that has claimed the lives of over nine people from the actions of these agents. It is time to stop sending agents to our cities with masks and guns that create fear. We need to pause sending the agents to our cities to let the anger subside. At the same time give the agents the training they need. The Trump administration cut the agents’ training nearly in half in order to get agents quickly into action. They need training in how to proceed with tasers and without fearful masks and guns. They need training in how to de-escalate a situation rather than use guns to injure and kill others. More importantly, they need to be restricted to working only with immigrants with violent records.

Joan Zimmer, Centre Hall

Wrong focus in Venezuela

I’m writing to you about the ongoing crisis that is happening with Venezuela. I wanted to share my thoughts as someone from Centre County to local publications about what stance our community should take and what our congressional representatives should do regarding this crisis.

As a volunteer with the Alliance for American Leadership and one who values principles of human rights and democratic governance, I’m horrified about the United States’ actions undermining the autonomy of the Venezuelan people. The United States should not be putting its hands into Venezuela’s oil production or revenues. Our country should not be making military strikes with the goal of pillaging resources of sovereign nations.

Respect for self-determination and permanent sovereignty over natural resources is a core principle of international law — reflected in the UN Charter, UN General Assembly Resolution 1803, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It is also fully consistent with enduring American values: human rights, democratic self-governance, and the rule of law. Rather than extracting wealth from vulnerable countries, the United States should focus on strengthening alliances and providing humanitarian assistance to people in need.

I urge Representative Thompson and the Trump administration to take concrete steps to halt efforts that would appropriate Venezuela’s oil revenues and instead pursue policies that address the country’s urgent humanitarian needs. By supporting recovery in Venezuela, the United States can help alleviate human suffering and reduce the drivers of undocumented migration. American leadership should be defined by support for human dignity.

Alex Reid, State College

‘Shortsighted, wrong and dangerous’ Greenland pursuit

President Trump’s threats of possible invasion of Greenland are echoes of Soviet demands for Finland and Germany’s demands for lebensraum to its east. It is inexplicable that NATO nations are right now planning contingencies in the face of American threats.

Arctic security is essential, but American threats against peace and security are no moral substitute for potential Russian threats to peace and security. Terrorizing a nation of innocent, peaceful people is morally repugnant. That they are allies makes threats of war a betrayal on a level unimaginable. Moreover, even if this administration gets what it wants, it’s a pyrrhic victory for the U.S. and a disaster for the western democracies.

If the U.S. uses military force against Greenland, NATO either invokes Article 5 — leading to war between the U.S. and its NATO allies, or it refuses to defend a NATO member from foreign aggression. Either way, NATO will be finished. Moreover, any moral or strategic universe that the world’s democracies thought they shared with us would be dead. In that context, democracy itself once again becomes a fractured set of experiments, corroded by conflicting foreign policies rooted in paranoia.

This isn’t America First. It’s Us Only, akin to the worst impulses of Big Stick bullying and völkisch nationalism. It is shortsighted, wrong and dangerous.

James Hynes, State College