BY SAL DEWITT
Editor’s note: The following is the speech made by Sal DeWitt at Saturday’s No Kings Rally in Los Alamos
The American Dream. The freedom to build a life, raise a family, and pursue success in ways that many immigrants can never fathom back home.
The American citizen. To be a leader, to protect sovereignty, and to conserve culture and embrace diversity not just for ourselves, but for others.
A nation cannot be a nation without borders, but what happens when enforcement becomes a controversy?
Public mistrust challenges the capabilities of our government to protect our natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
After 9/11 our nation panicked after learning 19 terrorists were found culpable, that all were legal immigrants with temporary visas—some with overstayed welcomes. Our response was to instate ICE, Immigration customs enforcement, on March 1st, 2003, shifting our immigration policies to a security-focused agency.
Around 2018, Trump’s first term in office, ICE protests skyrocketed as mass deportations ripped parents apart from children, leaving these kids with an uncertain future, and the fear of surviving young, alone, and with a government that views them as criminals.
In 2025 ICE killed 32 people in-custody, matching the previous record of deaths in 2004.
Young women are going into these centers, and coming out pregnant.
This is not security.
We must ask ourselves: are we prioritizing safety—or sacrificing humanity?
ICE agents are trained for 6-8 weeks before being deployed to the field, prison officers go through 4-6 months, police academies train their officers for 5-6 months. More than 12,000 agents have been hired in less than a year.
Is it possible to properly train all of these agents in such a short amount of time?
Can we truly ensure accountability, professionalism, and ethical conduct under these conditions?
When our federal government cuts corners, are we really caring about the end result at all?`
As citizens we have to think about the consequences of our government.
As citizens, we are passive observers, or are we leaders who are responsible for holding our government accountable?
Being leaders means questioning policies, demanding transparency, and refusing to ignore actions that may undermine the very rights we claim to protect.
Security and humanity are not opposites. We can, and must, have both.
We need a system that protects our borders without breaking people.
We need enforcement that reflects our values, not contradicts them.
And most importantly, we need to remember that the strength of this nation lies not just in its power, but in its principles.
Just like we need to continue regulating the inhumane mistreatment of inmates in our justice system. We need to regulate ICE, or form a new chain of command with more thought out and humane structure. And invest in programs that help the “left behind” live out the lives they deserve to have.