The New York Times Magazine - 20.10.2019

(Ron) #1
Illustrations by Giacomo Gambineri 7

Photograph by Christopher Griffith


The Thread

United States government through ICE.
What they are going through every day
breaks my heart.
Nicolletta Price, Fairfax, Calif.

This is the most Orwellian thing I’ve ever
read. And the chorus of Americans cheer-
ing it on makes it yet more Orwellian.
Tim, New York

Americans who applaud ICE’s deporting
the mother of three American children
have lost track of what justice means.
Punishment should fi t the crime, and
what this mother did, sneaking into
America to work and live her life, does
not deserve being banished, especially
given the extraordinary harm that will
come to her children. People who say she
deserves being banished from the place
where she’s raised her children without
hurting anybody are sadists.
Sherry, Washington

I read this piece, my breath hitching a
little more with each sad story; a shell-
fi sh worker, a piñata maker, a mom, a
dad — trying to do what’s best for their
kids. I am a pragmatist, and I strongly
believe we should deport undocument-
ed immigrants who have committed vio-
lent crimes. But deporting people whose
crime is overstaying a visa or trying to
pay taxes with an illegal tax ID? People
who help our economy and build our
communities? Leave the good people of
our country alone.
I kept reading, waiting for some
kind of happy ending, waiting for the
heroine or hero who would rescue at
least part of the day from this immor-
al administration and the technology
companies holding the paintbrush that
Trump is whitewashing our country

As I read articles like this one and see my
undocumented DACA-recipient friends
suff er unspeakably, I always think about
what sort of editorials were being writ-
ten by non-Jewish Germans as the Jews
began to disappear during the Holocaust.
Who spoke up for the humanity of all peo-
ple? Who agreed with the state’s laws and
justifi cations? Just because something is
written into law does not make it ethical
or right. We must question our assump-
tions and look into our hearts and see our
own children and grandchildren here.
Sarah Cline, Portland, Ore.

This story is tragic and troubling. It
reminds me of an old Soviet joke: A man
answers a knock at his door in the middle
of the night and is relieved that it’s some-
one telling him that his house is on fi re. I
used to think some privacy concerns were
overblown, and perhaps they are, but with
France unveiling its facial-recognition
initiative and ICE employing big data, I
worry that we really need to step back
and take stock about what these agencies
are doing. As another Soviet joke states:
The bureaucracy expands to meet the
needs of the expanding bureaucracy.
Brett, Syracuse

Send your thoughts to [email protected].

‘Punishment
should fit the
crime, and what
this mother did,
sneaking into
America to work
and live her life,
does not deserve
being banished.’

Th is week, readers wrote in about ICE
surveillance and Rachel Maddow.

RE: THIS IS THE MOMENT RACHEL
MADDOW HAS BEEN WAITING FOR
Amanda Hess profi led the MSNBC star
and went behind the scenes on the sets of
her show.

Thanks for this. What an excellent arti-
cle. This background on Rachel Maddow
makes me appreciate her work even
more. Five hours to write her piece each
day — what an amazing work ethic!
Brent Beach, Victoria, Canada

RE: HOW ICE PICKS ITS TARGETS
IN THE SURVEILLANCE AGE
McKenzie Funk wrote about the agency’s
quiet embrace of big data.

THE STORY,
ON TWITTER
Rachel!
@jeannakadlec

with. Standing up — showing up — for
these people working hard to earn a liv-
ing at jobs that native-born people don’t
want here was the soft-spoken, tenacious
teacher with a huge heart, Erin Glenn: ‘‘I
have the names,’’ she declared. ‘‘I creat-
ed a spreadsheet. It’s real.’’ Yes, it’s real.
This is who we’ve become, and as we
march toward 2020, only we can repair
the damage.
Lisa, Connecticut

As a citizen who is deeply concerned
about privacy issues, big data, facial
and voice recognition, artifi cial intelli-
gence and machine learning, I am deep-
ly, deeply concerned about the process
described throughout this article of the
long reach of data information sharing.
Not only those things, but the manpower
that’s required to keep track of, spy on
and ferret out undocumented immi-
grants must be huge, and the needs for
more must be bottomless. What will the
future bring? Will one of every three
citizens be part of a surveillance team
watching other citizens for any reason
deemed necessary by their Deep State?
But the saddest part of this excellent
investigative article is the devastating
eff ects on the children of immigrants
who, through no fault of their own, are
aff ected by the separation from a parent.
Their lives are turned upside down by the
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