Letters: Thompson owes constituents accuracy; No second thoughts about firearms
Thompson owes constituents accuracy
I appreciate Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson’s efforts to communicate with voters in Pennsylvania’s 15th District. I would appreciate it even more if he provided accurate, complete information.
In a recent newsletter, Rep. Thompson cited a Department of Homeland Security database listing 45 people apprehended for crimes while in the country illegally. He called the numbers “staggering” and implied the arrests were the result of “years of open borders and weak enforcement.”
That implication is misleading.
Rep. Thompson did not respond to a constituent’s request asking how many of those 45 convictions occurred during the current administration. However, public court records show that many of the individuals were convicted years ago — some well before 2025.
That also directly contradicts his claim that recent border policies are responsible for these cases.
It also undermines the suggestion that extreme new enforcement tactics — such as recent ICE raids in Minneapolis — are necessary to protect communities. Existing law already allows for the arrest and deportation of people convicted of serious crimes.
What Rep. Thompson also failed to mention is a well-documented fact: Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than are native-born Americans.
Fear-based messaging may be politically convenient, but it does not solve real problems. Instead of misrepresenting data, Rep. Thompson should focus on the issues his constituents face every day — rising prices, food security, health care and education.
Our district deserves facts, not distortion.
Julie Gittings, State College
No second thoughts about firearms
Once I was playing paintball and while I was lying low waiting for a safe shot, even though intellectually I knew that I was playing a game, my body was scared. My heart was pounding and all I could think about was the multitudes of young men who had been drafted as soldiers, engaged in armed conflict in the steamy jungles of Vietnam, and for whom a safe shot had not been the luxury of a recreational activity. Paintball was not fun for me and I never played it again.
When I was in my 20s and working in another state, I found a handgun on the street during the lunch break of my working hours. At the time I was working for the best boss I had ever had and now know was the best boss I would ever have throughout my whole working lifetime. He allowed me to calI the local authorities to come retrieve the small but finely crafted gun. I considered myself a rational person, but having had many experiences with individuals who have no respect for the emotional or physical limits of others, did not want to take responsibility for owning a weapon that could kill or maim me or someone else.
The authorities told me that if no one claimed the handgun, I could come and claim it. I never even gave that option a second thought. Possessing a firearm would not instill a feeling a safety in me then or now.
Della Chuderewicz, State College
Understanding the Fourth Amendment
The Fourth Amendment guarantees the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Most Americans aren’t subject to persistent suspicion, unwarranted searches, and the horrified anticipation of armed incursions into our private sanctuaries. We rarely consider the impacts of these intrusions on one’s sense of peace and freedom.
But our Fourth Amendment is interpreted more loosely and federal agents have “extraordinary” powers in the border zone to conduct warrantless searches of anyone — citizen or not — and to deport people through expedited removal without courts and with considerably diminished due process. Within 25 miles of the border, federal agents can enter private properties of anyone without a warrant. The president has just authorized agents to forcefully enter homes without a judicial warrant.
Few Americans understand that the border zone of “extraordinary” federal powers is 100-mile wide and includes not just every border but every coastline. It encompasses over 20 major cities — including New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia — along with the entirety of every Northeastern state and about half of Pennsylvania. Two-thirds of the United States population live in the zone of extraordinary powers.
Consider, too, that Minneapolis is 150 miles outside the border zone — yet the same powers are now being exercised there.
As federal immigration operations expand, the distant becomes near, the rare becomes common, and the targeted becomes general. These represent a fundamental change in how we understand our Fourth Amendment.
James Hynes, State College