Letter from Paul Mendelsohn

Why Work With ICE?

Donald Trump campaigned on deporting the “worst of the worst” and has, as I expect you’re aware, hired a poorly trained army of well-funded yet poorly trained, unaccountable, masked men to meet unrealistic quotas. As a result, the vast majority of people arrested and often deported to random locations have been law abiding community members with no criminal record.

In attempting to learn more, I accessed the ICE website, https://www.ice.gov/identify-and-arrest/287g. Clicking on the link for cooperating agencies, I found Otsego County to be one of only seven out of 62 counties in New York participating. The agreement only dates back to last month—10/17/2025.

Why is our county stepping out ahead of most other counties to embrace this behavior and potentially violate the due process rights of our neighbors? Perhaps I’m misreading something—but I don’t think so. I think this story would be of interest to your readers and worth investigating.

Paul Mendelsohn
Cherry Valley

EDITOR’S NOTE: See Eric Santomauro-Stenzel’s article on page 2.