Aug. 6, 2026 7 AM PT

To the editor: Thank you to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California for exposing the truth about President Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids (“Racial slurs and a Google search for car washes: What court records reveal about L.A. immigration raids,” July 29). The claim that they targeted dangerous criminals was always a sham — and ICE agents’ own texts prove it.

They weren’t methodically tracking known criminals. They were Googling the nearest Home Depots, targeting any Latinos they saw, pulling stunts for social media and behaving like they are above the law.

We’ve seen it firsthand. Last June, I responded to an ICE raid in Huntington Park where then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had an entire camera crew — complete with a hair and makeup team — while families were left terrified.

The Harbor Area Peace Patrol documented ICE agents on Terminal Island swapping license plates and even removing them from their vehicles all together.

These raids have been the most sickening abuse of government power in my lifetime. We are a long way away from accountability — but the ACLU’s work has helped bring the truth to light.

Janice Hahn, San Pedro
This writer is a Los Angeles County supervisor.

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To the editor: Gustavo Arellano’s inflammatory column about the U.S. Border Patrol is extremely illogical and insulting (“The banality of evil in the Border Patrol’s secret anti-immigrant slur,” July 31). He invokes the term “banality of evil,” coming from the subtitle of Hannah Arendt’s 1963 book “Eichmann in Jerusalem.” There is no valid comparison between the wrongful arrest and detention of a few individuals and the genocide of millions of people.

While there is no excuse for any wrongful arrest or detention, the proximate cause for the incidents Arellano cited is undoubtedly Trump’s mass deportation vow and the unwise deployment of the Border Patrol tactical unit in large cities to carry out such policy. Although Border Patrol agents receive extensive training in immigration law, mistakes happen. As with all occupations, sometimes the checks and balances of the hiring process fail to identify unqualified candidates, especially when political hiring mandates result in shortcuts.

Arellano implies that there is a culture of antipathy toward, or even violence against, immigrants within the Border Patrol. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

During my 32 years as a Border Patrol agent, I witnessed and participated in countless acts of kindness and compassion, such as rescuing immigrants in distress (often at great risk to ourselves), feeding hungry immigrants with our own food and/or money, protecting immigrants from bandits and other criminals, ensuring that immigrants were properly paid by unscrupulous employers, etc. Implications to the contrary are extremely insulting to all of those who honorably, bravely and compassionately serve or have served in the U.S. Border Patrol.

T.J. Bonner, Campo, Calif.
This writer is a retired senior U.S. Border Patrol agent.

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To the editor: Arellano is correct in using the phrase “banality of evil” to describe the behavior of immigration agents toward those they suspect of being here illegally.

That phrase, coined in 1963 by philosopher Hannah Arendt, explains how a perfectly ordinary individual, not necessarily a criminal, can commit or be induced to commit evil deeds. Arendt saw several reasons for such an apparent anomaly, among which are the following of orders without thinking and the desire to belong to an elite group.

Indeed, la migra fits the description.

Anneke Mendiola, Santa Ana

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To the editor: Arellano’s column shows the depths to which this country, and indeed our species, has descended. Federal agents using derogatory language about persons whom they think are beneath them. Their flagrant embodiment of unsubstantiated superiority over those they accost is both puerile and vain — a testament to the inability of some people to exhibit any form of compassion or respect toward others.

However, in regard to Brian Gavidia, I can only wonder as to what form of compassion he wishes others to have for him after his ordeal. He voted in 2024 for Trump, who could not have been any more predictable and transparent concerning the Republican conservative outlook on immigration. He made quite clear his disdain for anyone whose skin color or place of birth was not in line with his thinking. He campaigned on the removal of those he deemed undesirable or a burden to society.

So, although a citizen, Gavidia’s skin color alone should have given him pause. Maybe in 2028, Gavidia will give more thought to his vote.

Leigh Brown, Riverside