Letters to the Editor

What is going on in America?
Stephen Miller, the unelected adviser to the President, has an openly stated goal of removing 3,000 people per day from the USA. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not been meeting this goal.

So, his answer? Scale up ICE agent recruitment until it meets this debatable target. So far, the result has been poorly trained, masked agents creating mayhem and murder.
After yet another killing of a civilian in Minneapolis, Miller branded him an “assassin” and domestic terrorist.” This, after most Americans have seen the video where the “assassin” clearly never brandished his legally concealed weapon. Even the NRA, who once called government agents “jackbooted government thugs,” is alarmed. In a statement defending this man’s right to carry a gun, they said, “Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”

Meanwhile, in South Dakota, the forced removal of immigrants is creating economic mayhem.

Lake Norden’s Drumgoon Dairy was recently raided by the Department of Homeland Security, resulting in a mass termination of 38 employees, leaving the family farm with just 16 workers.

“We didn’t just lose employees — we lost years of experience, skills, knowledge, and a team culture that we had built over the past 10 years or more,” Owners Rodney and Dorothy Elliott said. (Source: Dairy Herd Management)

According to the National Milk Producers Federation, immigrant workers contribute 79% of the US milk supply. “Basically, we’ve turned off the tap, but we’ve done nothing to create a solution to find employees for the dairy industry,” Dorothy says. Ironically, the Elliott’s are also immigrants, from Northern Ireland, who took advantage of a marketing campaign to lure dairy farmers to South Dakota. The campaign led to a doubling of the dairy cow population in the last ten years. Governor Rhoden touted the economic impact of this industry that employs over 14,000 South Dakotans: “South Dakota is a land of opportunity, and I am proud of all our hardworking farmers and ranchers.”

If one farm can lose 70% of its workforce in one audit, a similar statewide audit could likewise terminate up to 10,000 dairy farm workers. This would collapse our milk supply in this country and decimate family-owned dairy farming. Is that what our Governor and congressional delegation want? It’s time for Senators Thune and Rounds to demand a stop to these draconian roundups led by Miller and the Trump administration.

Peter Egart,
Brookings

Is ICE moral? Good use of taxes?
The South Dakota State Historical Society documents the population of settlers to the Dakota territory as 60% foreign born or with foreign born parents, in 1900. The foreign population at that time was largely Norwegians, Germans, Scandinavian, Irish, Cornish, Chinese and Finnish. Many of you reading this may be able to directly trace your heritage to one of these groups.

In his 2022 book, Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success, Ram Abramitzky said, “From Henry Cabot Lodge in the late 19th century to Donald Trump, anti- immigration politicians have repeatedly tried to link immigrants to crime, but our research confirms that this is a myth and not based on fact.” He goes on to state that “immigrants are 50% less likely to commit crimes than native born citizens.”

And yet we have Immigration and Customs Enforcement attacking, imprisoning and killing people over the concern of immigrant crime.

“Although the population of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has remained fairly constant over the past 10 years, overall immigration has increased since the 1970s, and increased funding has been needed to fairly and efficiently address that growth. But the scale and focus of the increases are startling. The July 2025 funding package appropriates huge sums for deportations while neglecting processes that are needed for a fair and workable immigration system, such as immigration judges to ensure citizens or immigrants are not erroneously deported.” (Brennan Center for Justice, an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization.)

There are many people, including myself, who would like to see the discussion on immigration focus on humanity. All humans need to treat fellow humans with respect. All major religions preach the Golden rule: LOVE THY NEIGHBOR.

So let’s frame the discussion on dollars and see if that may turn some heads.

“The so-called One Big Beautiful Act allocates more than $170 billion over four years for border and interior enforcement, with a stated goal of deporting 1 million immigrants each year. That is more than the yearly budget for all local and state law enforcement agencies combined across the entire United States. The biggest piece of the pie for enforcement operations in the United States will go to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest, detain, and deport immigrants.

“In short, all other federal public safety efforts now take a back seat to arresting and detaining immigrants — the vast majority of whom do not have a criminal record. Similarly, the administration’s funding allocation makes clear that deportation is the top priority, even if other core values — like due process to ensure the law is accurately applied — may be compromised.” (Margy O’Herron, Senior Fellow in Liberty and National Security at the Brennon Center for Justice)

Is this how you want the US resources to be used? Are you comfortable with your tax dollars going to questionably trained ICE agents to use a 5 year old child to ‘bait’ their non-criminal parents out of their house to be arrested and deported?

We all need to step up and demand our Senators and Representatives to stop the current administration from continuing their criminal behavior. Call or write to Senators Thune and Rounds and Representative Johnson daily. When the time comes, vote them out of office.

We cannot continue to allow our country to turn into a police state, deporting people without due process and killing caring citizens who stand up for them.

Rest in Peace- Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Joanie Holm,
Brookings