In Gary Houchens’ commentary, “Detained teen a victim of broken immigration system,” he claims that “the current round of immigration raids is good and necessary.”

In what universe is unleashing a gang of masked thugs onto human beings a GOOD thing? They are given no due process, even though the Constitution demands it. The Big Beautiful Bill calls for hiring 10,000 new ICE officers to abduct even more human beings who will be shipped off to the new detention facilities that the Trump regime plans on building with the $45 billion that has been earmarked for that purpose. In fact, we already have a new camp named Alligator Alcatraz, where conditions are nearly as bad as those in the Nazi concentration camps.

Many undocumented immigrants obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, which allows the employer to deduct a portion of the worker’s wages that will go to the IRS and the Social Security fund. Multiple studies indicate that undocumented immigrants contribute a great deal of funds to the coffers of federal, state, and local governments. In 2022, people without a documented status paid an estimated $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes, improving the trust fund’s solvency, but cannot collect Social Security themselves.

The broken immigration system is the result of companies hiring undocumented folks. The fines they may have to pay are worth it – they are simply the cost of doing business. The rest of us benefit from the immigrants’ labor and the taxes they pay. Then, even though they are much less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans, we demonize them, incarcerate them, and deport them.

The current round of immigration raids are NOT good; they are inhumane, sickening, unjust, and UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

Denise Zielinski

Bowling Green