Editor,

In May, I spoke to Oak Harbor City Council to issue a warning that the federal government was engaged in egregious overreach while carrying out “immigration enforcement.” Unfortunately, my voiced concerns that our country would more and more resemble a police state have come to frightening fruition. We see it now in big cities like LA, NYC, even Houston. ICE is deputizing bounty hunters to conduct warrantless arrests and raids. They wear masks, refuse to identify themselve, and knock down doors, all without judicial oversight. This is happening in broad daylight.

And it will come to Whidbey Island. Even our military base is not a shield. Veterans, active-duty spouses, and military families have been swept into detention centers under current policies. Service to this country does not guarantee protection from its own government anymore.

Obviously, not every immigrant is here legally. But that only underscores how shocking it is that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of legal residents have had their legal status revoked with little to no warning, and with nowhere to go. Those individuals are being kept in the same squalid, inhumane conditions as the few gang members ICE has had the courage to arrest. The Trump administration is now prioritizing de-naturalizing citizens in its rampage towards quota-based mass deportations. “Alligator Alcatraz” has all the makings of a concentration camp (look up the definition of that term if you disagree). The president has even expressed desire to send native-born U.S. citizens to foreign prisons!

And I haven’t even mentioned the blatant, in-your-face corruption and incompetence we’ve also seen. I shudder to think what this kind of authoritarianism has led to in other eras of history. We’ve seen this before.

Denial of due process

Rounding up of “undesirables”

Dehumanization of “the other”

Anyone reading this with a high school understanding of world history and basic pattern recognition know how badly this can end. This is not hypothetical. It is happening. Thousands of news outlets are fully accessible to each of you to verify the claims I am making. I am not spreading rumors or trying to fear-monger.

You have the opportunity now to do something. Pressure your elected representatives. Have hard conversations with family, especially those in red states who can pressure their elected officials. Protest. Write letters. Let’s make good on America’s promise: No one above the law, no one beneath its protection.

Joshua Treadway

Oak Harbor