Letter from Roberta Hohensee

We’re Living in a State of Fear

One can imagine a movie beginning with an individual accosted by masked gunmen, handcuffed, and loaded into a van for transport to a secret destination. We recognize the plot. Evil forces are in action.

A government that can target individuals for what they say or write, detain them without due process, and ignore attempts to be held accountable can readily be found in Hungary and Russia.

The video of masked ICE agents surrounding legal immigrant Rümeysa Öztürk, handcuffing her, and taking her away in an SUV is an unnerving view of the power of a state police force. This, however, occurred in the U.S.

Deploying this type of governmental force against individuals, who have committed no crimes but have been deemed problematic for their views, is now a government policy. Unmarked cars, secret lists, detainment, and relocation without any legally required administrative or judicial process are police state tactics.

Intimidation is the goal.

Government officials use fluid and opaque rationales to defend these actions. While the current focus is on immigrants, when legal processes are ignored, the risk expands to others who dissent. Political speech by lawyers, professors and students who are U.S. citizens now carries risks of governmental reprisals. The government is bypassing constitutional due process protections by using ICE to circumvent courts, ignoring judicial orders, and eliminating oversight agencies through DOGE.

Terrorism as a government-sponsored activity has arrived in the U.S. The freedoms and justice we simply take for granted are being eroded. The U.S. is morphing into an authoritarian police state, one we have never imagined possible. This is not a movie.

Roberta Hohensee
Cooperstown
Coop-On Cooperstown Oneonta Indivisible