A friend told me Aug. 9 that Hispanics were afraid to leave their homes for two days. They'd heard that the sheriffs were targeting Hispanics with driving infractions in order to arrest and deport them.

Some businesses actually excused their Hispanic workers from work on Aug. 8. One Catholic priest said, "If this had been a Sunday, I'd have canceled Mass." Such is the level of fear, and I believe it is justified.

N&O columnist Ruth Sheehan wrote about the fallacy of the North Carolina immigration crackdown in "A danger that she grasps" as Alamance County arrests people like the young library worker.

I can't tell you how this situation reminds me of the beginning treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany and the WWII internment camps where Japanese-Americans were kept behind barbed wire.

The police are targeting immigrants, making it impossible for them to get driver's licenses and making it dangerous for them to report crimes.

Immigrants are being marginalized and victimized by cops and robbers alike.

Gailya Paliga

Raleigh

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