I am grateful for the Gazette’s ample coverage of the rally of hundreds July 11 at Northampton’s City Hall steps, calling attention to the plight of local resident Niberd Alzendi Abdalla, 57, suddenly taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Suffolk County jail (“Rallygoers: Bring Abdalla home,” July 12).
For seven straight years he has dutifully reported to the proper agencies, had no criminal record, and by all accounts was a law-abiding member of his community.
My hope is that the Gazette will continue to keep us posted of his status as local ACLU lawyers Bill Newman and Buz Eisenberg courageously defend his rights.
First, this administration dispatched ICE to swoop down on Mexicans, defining them as “bad dudes” and “rapists,” now it has broadened the hunt to people of primarily Muslim nations like Iraq, whose country we categorically dismantled in 2003. (Mr. Abdalla’s father fled their country with his family after exposing pro-Saddam Hussein bureaucrats of corruption.)
If it were the 1930s, we’d call this madness a modern version of ethnic cleansing — this deranged, self-righteous crusade to make America pure again (under the guise of tightening security and safety), pure as defined by immigrant-descendants of Scottish-German ancestry.
Now that the president holds a strong grip on the the minds of millions of loyal followers, we have much to fear, not only for Mr. Abdalla and his loved ones, but also for our splendidly diverse nation. It is now under an onslaught of fear-mongering led by an angry bully, whom I dub “The Lyin’ King,” replete with queen, princess, princes, and a duke. So much for democracy.
Rev. Peter Kakos
Northampton