Politics-playing Atlanta mayor wrong to target ICE

There is a growing movement that wants to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement supposedly because they separate families at the border. This theme is seen in the Atlanta mayor’s executive order regarding ICE detainees. Here is the rub: ICE has nothing to do with separating families at the border; that is done by Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol, when they apprehend people or when unaccompanied minors are picked up crossing the border illegally. Now I know Mayor Bottoms is aware of the different Homeland Security divisions, but she makes the issue to continue the attacks against President Trump, drum up her base and make political points with the Democrat Party. Under President Barack Obama, the division prioritized removing undocumented immigrants who had committed serious crimes in the United States. This is one of several jobs ICE has, but none of them involve any duties at the borders.

JAMES VAN VALKENBURG, SNELLVILLE

Without commonsense rules, guns indeed do kill

It is the guns! Both the pistols that children find and play with and the assault rifles that kill dozens in minutes. We need commonsense gun regulations, just as we do with other dangerous objects like cars. A friend’s precious grandson was killed by a gun found by a fellow special-needs student in a van in which they were being transported. Once a month, our church reads the names of people killed that month in Georgia by guns and then attaches their names to ribbons displayed outdoors. The numbers are heartbreaking. When July’s names and ribbons are read, one of our own will be there. Guns kill!

JOHN HOLLENDER, ATLANTA

About the Author

Keep Reading

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks with members of the media at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. Manfred pulled the All-Star Game out of Georgia in 2021 in response to the state’s voting law. (Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Bay Times/TNS 2024)

Credit: TNS

Featured

Scott Jackson (right), business service consultant for WorkSource Fulton, helps job seekers with their applications in a mobile career center at a job fair hosted by Goodwill Career Center in Atlanta. (Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC)

Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC