1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Why are foreign students being targeted, rounded up, deported, without due process, presumably for using the First Amendment rights afforded them by the U.S. Constitution? Why is this happening? Doesn’t ICE have a policy in place that says First Amendment activity was NOT to be the basis of enforcement action? Why did ICE arrest a mechanical engineering student at the University of Alabama, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, a recent graduate of Columbia with a green card, a Russian scientist at Harvard Medical School who came here after protesting for Ukraine, and students at Georgetown and Cornell? What prompted Secretary of State Marco Rubio to claim at least 300 student visas had been revoked? It seems obvious. Quotas. Quotas arbitrarily mandated because the vast numbers of dangerous, violent, illegally-voting, wreaking-havoc-on-our-country undocumented immigrants weren’t materializing fast enough. Or in the numbers declared and promised by presidential rhetoric. So ICE appears to have turned to low-hanging fruit: foreign students on visas who participated in First Amendment-protected protests. Another ill-formulated poorly-executed business concept inappropriately applied. Targets may work for manufacturing Teslas, but they’re a horrible idea for law enforcement. They distort police exercise of discretion and force officers and agents to focus on meeting quotas, not doing justice. Studies have shown that when law enforcement officers have quotas imposed, they ignore violent crime and focus on easier, quicker cases to meet targets. Quotas increase the potential for officer misconduct. Anybody ever heard of speed traps? Daily quotas for traffic tickets? Simple concept to envision happening in these cases. These actions belie our belief in the freedoms offered by America. We don’t want criminals. (Well, except for president apparently.) But we do want people who contribute to actually keeping America great. Who will want to study or come work here in this climate? Example: 25% of practicing doctors in the United States are international medical graduates. Here’s hoping when these cases reach SCOTUS they won’t confirm the Trump administration’s belief that every judgement by them should be quid pro quo. And they will actually follow the law. Someone needs to.