A Beloved Immigrant’s Arrest in a Pro-Trump Town

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Credit…Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “‘Everyone Knows Carol’: In Missouri, Immigrant’s Arrest Stuns a Deep-Red Town” (front page, May 30):

To the people in Kennett, Mo., who know and love Carol: I understand your unhappiness about her incarceration and possible deportation. That said, I don’t understand your surprise. Donald Trump made himself quite clear in his first presidential term and even clearer in the 2024 election.

To the people who simply suggest that we need to get rid of all our undocumented immigrants: I see a lack of empathy that seems to characterize people on the extreme right. Carol is a real person, and if you judge her, try to find some compassion, because we are all subject to challenging circumstances somewhere along the way.

To Carol: I am appalled that our government would put you through so much trouble. Out here in California, and I suspect in many places in the United States, we have Carols. They clean our houses, take care of our children, bus our tables and harvest our vegetables. And we love them.

Judith Lessow-Hurley
San Jose, Calif.

To the Editor:

The story about Ming Li Hui, also known as Carol, in Kennett, Mo., demonstrates the “othering” that has dominated the immigration policy of the Trump administration. Carol came to the Missouri community as a stranger, an immigrant, an “other.”

Gradually she became one of them and was not an “other.” She was part of the fabric of the community, and the bonds of friendship and caring were made.

Immigration officials detained this baseball mom, and they suddenly made her an “other” again. The folks in that town must now reconcile their voting for Donald Trump and how it affects one of their own. Unfortunately, their votes had consequences.

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