{"id":113456,"date":"2026-02-13T23:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/113456\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T23:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:08:07","slug":"republicans-with-trumps-ear-must-speak-up-against-pennsylvania-ice-abuses-pennlive-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/113456\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans with Trump\u2019s ear must speak up against Pennsylvania ICE abuses | PennLive Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nation has been fixed on the mayhem in Minneapolis with ICE raids that have turned deadly, killing two Americans. But as PennLive\u2019s Ivey DeJesus <\/a>reports, Harrisburg, Norristown, Erie, as well as Lancaster and Lehigh counties are also facing their own mayhem.<\/p>\n

ICE has taken dozens of people into custody, disrupting not only families but whole communities. And there are serious questions about whether many of the people taken into custody are dangerous criminals or have violated any laws whatsoever.<\/p>\n

DeJesus reports that ICE seized eight Haitians in Harrisburg who had Temporary Protective Status.<\/p>\n

Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, says immigrant communities feel under siege. Our entire commonwealth is under siege.<\/p>\n

Immigration attorney Craig Shagin says the state\u2019s immigration system is in utter chaos. If so, state officials must step in to fix it, and our congressmen should support them in doing so.<\/p>\n

\"ImmigrationProtesters demonstrate against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo\/Jen Golbeck)AP<\/p>\n

There are too many examples in Minnesota and elsewhere of ICE using unnecessary violence and downright cruelty to enforce the Trump Administration\u2019s crackdown on immigration. It was supposed to go after the most violent criminals, but we\u2019ve seen a five-year-old taken into custody and as well as a grandmother tending her garden in New Orleans<\/a>. Rivera and Shagin are sounding the alarm that such atrocities are happening here, as well.<\/p>\n

According to Department of Homeland Security data obtained by CBS,<\/a> fewer than 14% of the people ICE has arrested in Trump\u2019s second term had violent criminal records, and nearly 40% had no criminal record. <\/p>\n

The impact of ICE\u2019s rampage is being felt far and wide.<\/p>\n

Farms are suffering due to a lack of workers, most of whom have been Latino immigrants. Ice went to a work site to seize a dozen men installing high-speed internet cable that would benefit thousands of people. These are hard-working people not common criminals or drug lords. <\/p>\n

Who is this helping? How is this benefitting anyone?<\/p>\n

This is cruelty for the sake of cruelty. Several courts have weighed in and demanded ICE honor law and release those unlawfully detained. And there are reports of ICE defying the courts and refusing to do <\/a>so. Many Pennsylvanians are rightly outraged and have taken to the streets to show it.<\/p>\n

\"ICEProtesters assemble Tuesday evening at an ICE Out of Harrisburg rally outside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Government Center.Madison Montag, PennLive.com<\/p>\n

There have been protests outside the MLK Government Center in Harrisburg, outside the state capitol and in cities throughout the state. And people are using their cell phones to document what often appears blatant abuse of civil rights. <\/p>\n

The aggressive tactics of some ICE agents are making a mockery of all that America is supposed to stand for, especially due process and respect for the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Our fear is what happened in Minnesota will happen in Pennsylvania. An innocent person here could face the same fate as Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for all elected leaders of conscience, especially Republicans who have the president\u2019s ear, to speak up, stand up and do what is right. We call on Pennsylvania\u2019s entire congressional delegation to act now to protect Pennsylvanians and help end the siege of fear that is hurting our entire commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Quality local journalism has never been more important. You deserve the best. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider <\/a>supporting our work<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nation has been fixed on the mayhem in Minneapolis with ICE raids that have turned deadly, killing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-113456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}