Don’t abolish ICE; DO understand it

Dear Editor: It is amazing how many ignorant and misled people we have in this country.

This past weekend, we had hundreds of rallies across the Nation asking for Congress to abolish ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Most of these rallies were led by politicians and celebrities, with some of them not understanding the regulations and others who are intentionally misleading everyone for what they hope will be a benefit to their political career.

The U.S. Border Patrol has the initial contact with all parties crossing our border, and they are the agency that processes the legal and illegal persons entering our country, including the separation of families, not ICE. I would hope our politicians know the difference, but they know that having a rally asking for the elimination of our Border Patrol would look ridiculous, so they choose to use ICE, as this agency better fits their other agendas.

No matter which television news channel you watch, you never see ICE agents dealing with the issues at the border. It is always the Border Patrol. ICE comes into play after the initial crossing, and it polices such things as terrorism, money laundering, cyber attacks, firearms and explosives, child exploitation and gangs. Could you imaging the lack of protection if we abolish them?

Democrats need to wake up and be honest with their constituents and stop attacking the honest employees of our government who are just doing their jobs.

Ronald Swart, Kingston