RACE FOR THE SIXTH: Rick Jakious Pens Op-Ed On ICE

Below is an op-ed from Rick Jakious, candidate for the 6th Congressional District, which includes Wilmington. This op-ed, which was originally published in The Lynn Item, was also shared with Wilmington Apple:

Todd Lyons used to be one of the good guys. How could he let Trump corrupt him so badly?

by Rick Jakious

During President Donald Trump’s first term, I remember how his family separation policy brought us a different brand of immigration horrors – daily images of kids in cages and mothers separated from their children. As District Director for Congressman Seth Moulton, we fielded frantic emergency calls nearly every day from immigrants and their attorneys. They became frequent enough that we developed a reliable channel we could work with in Immigration and Customs Service (ICE). His name: Todd Lyons, who then oversaw ICE operations in New England – and who is now the acting director of ICE at the national level.

Back then, Lyons had the moral courage to intervene in immigration cases to prevent some unjust deportations – ones that should never have happened. I directly recall several constituents who were facing imminent deportation but who received a reprieve because of our good working relationship with Lyons, who understood that the point of immigration enforcement is not to execute mass roundups of long-time community members but to focus on dangerous criminals.

I think Lyons did this because he believed that he was serving our country and the Constitution – the people, not the president. Separating a mother from her children, for example, violated the fundamental dignity of our nation.

During Trump’s first term, Todd Lyons was brave enough to exert a measure of humanity so that some families could remain together. When I look at the federal government today, what I see on full and gross display is Trump’s power to corrupt good Americans. In no case is that more clear than the case of Todd Lyons himself.

In April, Lyons said, of deporting people, “We need to get better at treating this like a business.” He said he wants ICE to work “like (Amazon) Prime, but with human beings.”

After Renee Nicole Good’s murder, which was not the first ICE killing of a citizen, Lyons publicly said that ICE was “going to keep doing the work.” Last weekend, we saw exactly what he meant with the murder of Alex Pretti. Who will die next in the name of “the work?”

As ICE’s acting director, he is directly responsible for the actions of the men and women under his command. They also swore an oath to the Constitution–not Donald Trump–and seem to believe they are staying true to it even when they murder, in broad daylight, their fellow citizens.

In May, Lyons wrote a memo to ICE authorizing agents to enter the homes of Americans without a judicial warrant, which legal scholars across the political spectrum have said is contrary to the Fourth Amendment protecting all of us from unreasonable searches and seizures, according to whistleblowers within the agency.

Instead of trying to meet the racist and cruel demands of Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and Donald Trump, Lyons should summon the moral courage that I have seen him find before.

If he wants to serve the people, he should blow the whistle on what’s happening inside Trump’s corrupt administration. Doing so would give us the information we need to dismantle ICE and build a new immigration system that actually serves our nation’s interests and values and not the president’s penchant for chaos and theatrics.

Even before that, Lyons could start by obeying multiple court orders to appear in Minnesota. His refusal to do so thus far has gotten him threatened with contempt by a federal judge there just this week. In the written order, Judge Patrick Schiltz noted how extraordinary this moment is and the responsibilities that Lyons has.

“The Court’s patience is at an end,” Schiltz wrote. “The Court acknowledges that ordering the head of a federal agency to personally appear is an extraordinary step, but the extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed.”

We are at an inflection point in our country. An important principle, in this moment, is that we have to allow people who have previously supported the Trump administration to do the right thing now, when its full cruelty is on display.

I believe Todd Lyons could be one of those people, given my previous experience with him, who could stand up for those values he used to hold. If he doesn’t, and for everyone else who continues down this path towards fascism in our country, we will remember, and we will hold them accountable for their actions – at the ballot box, in the United States Congress, and through the courts. Our democracy depends on it.