1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I am appalled that now several people who have legal papers from our government—-visas, permanent residency, green cards—- have had their abductions from American streets outside their homes audio or video recorded before they were disappeared to detention centers hundreds of miles from their homes. These are not things that should happen on American streets. We grew up hearing that only repressive, antidemocratic and authoritarian regimes behaved this way. We also grew up learning that regimes that first come for one group—-of immigrants, or of religious minorities, or of scapegoats—-would come for us, and that when no one speaks for each of them there will be no one left to speak for us either. Each of these disappeared individuals had and continues to have constitutional rights that are being violated by their state ordered kidnapping, rendition to detention, stripping of status without notice or trial, and punishment for constitutionally protected free speech and assembly. These rights are afforded all in our nation, not just those with citizenship. It is baffling that we are listening to testimonies from public broadcasting figures in a congressional hearing over whether $1 a day is wasteful while we are seeing this headlong assault on constitutional liberties and the squashing not only of dissent but of any university funding for those who do not cooperate fast or fully enough in identifying and persecuting protesters who exercised constitutionally protected rights. Where are the hearings about the rights abuses we are witnessing? Where are the congressional delegations to these detention centers, both here and now in El Salvador where individuals are being detained without trial or proffered evidence of their purported crimes? A government that has to imprison those who protest its policies or share opposing views is not one that can withstand an inquiry, but it is surely one that needs to be investigated. These actions make us all less safe.