Dear Representative Joe Courtney,

I am Zerek Laghari, a senior at Robert E. Fitch High School in Groton, CT, in the 2nd Congressional District. I will be a voting constituent come November 2025, planning to register as a member of the Democratic Party. I write this open letter as a student enamored by politics, having received a full, four-year scholarship to one of the best private liberal arts schools in the United States, situated here in Connecticut, to study political science and government. I hold a Connecticut Seal of Biliteracy in the French Language, and I aspire to attend law school and become an attorney, hoping to eventually become a policymaker and legislator like yourself.

Today, however, I write in stark opposition to your vote on S.5 – 119th Congress, the Laken Riley Act. This act requires the Department of Homeland Security (i.e. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers) to detain an undocumented immigrant for something as small as being arrested for shoplifting.

 We have seen time and time again that many police officers in this country make false arrests or arrests based on racial profiling without actual probable cause. We have also seen that concerned citizens may accidentally make a false report of a crime, resulting in false arrests. These two cases mean that human beings whose only crime is being undocumented are now required to be detained by ICE officers. We too know that ICE detention can be synonymous with deportation as expedited removal may be decided by immigration officers, not by a judicial body, taking away the right to due process from thousands of working people. As someone who doesn’t personally know anyone who could be affected by the enforcement of the Laken Riley Act, I strongly believe that rights guaranteed under the Constitution should apply to everyone, regardless of immigration status.

 Even if the undocumented immigrant in question has committed the crime they are accused of, the required involvement of the DHS, and therefore ICE, in this process gives legitimacy to ICE in their goal of ridding this country of undocumented immigrants, and in some cases, even documented ones. If justice for shoplifted goods must so urgently be served, leave it to local judicial systems instead of ICE, who is likely to attempt expedited removal, instead of providing judicial punitive retribution.

 Immigrants in the United States have always been the backbone of our nation. This country is founded on the blood, sweat, and tears of immigrants seeking a better life, the toil of their labor. Yet now, their own legislators vote to obstruct their right to due process, their freedom of movement, and the actualization of their goal of making a better life for themselves and their families.

 We live in a time where the “us vs. them” narrative dividing US citizens against immigrants is more prevalent than ever. We live in a time where constitutional obstruction is the norm. We live in a time very similar to 1930s Germany, in which a far-right authoritarian government is actively consolidating power and obstructing the foundation of laws and rules that this country was built 

We live in a time where we need to choose with urgency and conviction which side of history to lie on. If the Democratic Party truly stands against unconstitutional authoritarian rule, it would oppose every single bill brought to the House of Representatives and Senate floors that is supported by the current oligarchic administration. Voting alongside the wishes of the president as a member of the opposition party sends a message that there is no opposition party.

 Now is the time to take action to prevent the rise of authoritarianism in the United States. As a legislator, a key aspect of that goal is to use one’s lawmaking power to vote against every single bill introduced by Republicans, which is the same thing Republicans do whenever Democrats are in the majority, to achieve effective and consequential ends. Democrats too hold that power. To oppose in these times is to be loud, assertive, influential, and consistently on the side of utilitarianism. The time is now to vehemently oppose, and vote against authoritarianism in the United States at every step of the way.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Zerek Laghari