1. United States
2. Colo.
3. Letter

It is abhorrent that this nation is arresting people who dissent from the dastardly and sadistic policies of this administration. Stand up and fight for our country. People are being swept up and detained without legal cause. No notice to their families, no way for lawyers to find them. This administration has gone from arresting the undocumented to arresting visa holders to arresting green card holders whose political opinions they don’t like. It’s a short step to taking away naturalized citizens, then natural born citizens. Then….. you? Those taken away include: Becky Burke, a tourist from Wales who set out on a four-month-long backpacking trip in the US, is being held without conditions for her release for the last 12 days. She’d planned this “life-changing” trip with various host families. She was taken to an immigration detention facility in conditions she describes as “horrendous.” Jessica Brösche, a German tattoo artist met up with a US friend in Mexico for a few days before entering the US to stay at her friend’s LA home. Brösche had her German passport, confirmation of her visa waiver to enter the country, and a copy of her return ticket back to Berlin, but she was taken into custody by ICE. She’s been held in a detention center for more than a month under allegations that she intended to work as a tattoo artist during her stay. Her imprisonment included eight days in solitary confinement. Celal and Emine Emanet came to the US legally in 2008 and have had a case pending in immigration court to become citizens since 2016. They run a kebob shop in New Jersey, give free meals to those who can’t pay (with a sign in the window advertising this), and pay their taxes. Yet ICE handcuffed and arrested them two weeks ago. Celal has been released with an ankle monitor but Emine is still detained with no information on when she might be freed. Lucas Sielaff, a German man, was handcuffed along with his American fiancée when they tried to reenter the US after visiting Mexico. Agents accused him of living in the US despite the fact he has visited before and returned to Germany each time before overstaying his visa. His fiancée was subject to a body check, fingerprinting, and chained to a bench for hours---denied a phone call or access to her lawyer. Sielaff’s visa was cancelled by agents and he was taken to detention where he was held for two weeks before permission to fly back to Germany. Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder with legal US residence and recent grad student at Columbia. He was taken from his residence, an apartment building owned by Columbia University. His wife, a US citizen who is 8 months pregnant, was threatened with arrest by ICE as well. Khalil has apparently been targeted for his activism on behalf of the Palestinian people (which the Trump administration incorrectly equates to support of Hamas). His whereabouts have not been revealed to his family or lawyer, he may be in an ICE facility in Louisiana.