Mississippians call on Congress, state leaders to rein in ICE

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — Approximately 100 Mississippians, from Ocean Springs to Tunica, have written this week to Mississippi’s congressional delegation and state and local leaders about the impact of Operation Swamp Sweep and the cruel tactics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents on Mississippi’s immigrant population.  Their correspondence with elected officials is facilitated through Mississippi United, a new network of Mississippians committed to taking action to move Mississippi forward.

           In letters to Governor Tate Reeves, Attorney General Lynn Fitch, State Auditor Shad White, and more than 50 local mayors, police chiefs, and sheriffs, Mississippians expressed the following about Operation Swamp Sweep, an immigration enforcement effort in Mississippi:

We Mississippians write to you today out of grave concern for our immigrant neighbors, family members, and friends, and urge you to cease ALL cooperation with Swamp Sweep, or any other effort by federal agencies to target, terrorize, harass, intimidate, detain, or deport immigrants in Mississippi who are not credibly accused of violent criminal activity.  . . .

Instead of making our communities safer, the tactics used by ICE and CBP intimidate and terrify children and their families.  The attacks on immigrants keep students from attending school . . . and breadwinners from showing up for work.  . . . Business owners are losing clients because their workers refuse to show up for their jobs.  Folks are no longer gathering for worship services out of fear.  This is the very definition of terror. . . .

Please understand that state and local support for ICE and Swamp Sweep is tearing families apart, and Mississippians are outraged.  Any complicity on your part is contrary to the will of most people in our state and stands in stark contrast to both the American spirit and the spirt of this holiday season.

To Third District Congressman Michael Guest, Mississippians wrote in part:

If you, Congressman, are genuinely concerned about the safety of ICE and CBP agents [as you recently expressed in a committee hearing], and if you truly care about keeping your constituents safe, you would do the following:

·       Speak out against the tactics used by ICE and CBP . . . , which only exacerbate the security threats against them and do nothing to keep Americans safe;

·       Insist that DHS focus its efforts and resources on targeting actual violent criminals and those who pose a genuine threat to the safety and security of the American people, and not on detaining and deporting immigrants who contribute to the fabric of our society and the strength of our economy;

·       Demand that DHS stop using fear and cruelty against people on American soil as a tactic to deter immigration;

·       Recognize that the immigration policies of this Administration, which you support, are not making us safer, and instead are wasting taxpayer dollars at an alarming rate.  The daily cost of ICE and CBP detentions alone is more than $15 million, nevermind the drain on our local economies and tax revenue and the financial and emotional pain caused to families when a breadwinner is detained.

Congressman, we believe you care about this country and its people.  If we are right about you, then you will act with haste to loosen the grip of ICE and CBP on our communities and admonish the Administration to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on terrorizing the good and decent people in America.

           Since September, Mississippi United has enabled 458 Mississippians to make a total of 13,175 contacts with 81 elected and public officials concerning a variety of issues, including opposition to so-called “school choice,” the negative financial impact on Mississippians from H.R. 1 (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) and tariffs, extension of the enhanced ACA premium tax credits, release of the Epstein files, investigation into the unprovoked attacks on civilian vessels in the Caribbean, protection of the First Amendment, respect for the rule of law and federal courts, the cruel nature of immigration enforcement, and the responsibility of Congress to conduct oversight of the Trump administration.  Anyone interested in joining Mississippi United should contact its Founder, Kathleen O’Beirne, by emailing mississippiunited1@gmail.com.