Protest threats posed to the Rogue Valley

First, they came for the Venezuelans accused of being gang members; I was not a Venezuelan gang member, so I said nothing.

Then they came for the international university students studying at our universities and exhibiting their right to free speech, but I’m not an international university student, so I said nothing.

Then they came for a Wisconsin judge, but I am not a Wisconsin judge, so I still said nothing.  

And then they came for the Newark mayor but I am not a N.J. mayor; still, I said nothing.

Sound familiar?

Now, they are deporting citizens; I am a citizen so maybe they will come for me.

A Cornell Law School analysis reports that the constitution only states one command twice: “The Fifth Amendment says … that no one shall be “deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, uses the same eleven words, called the Due Process Clause, to describe a legal obligation of all states.”

Southern Oregonians may feel safe, but we live in the United States and are vulnerable to the lawless arrests and incarcerations being undertaken by the Executive Branch as it wages war on our Constitution and our constitutionally guaranteed rights. And now they threaten to suspend habeas corpus, which, constitutionally, only Congress can do. Anyone claiming to be a patriot or to stand for democracy, human rights, and our freedoms should be rising in protest against the threat Trump poses to the Rogue Valley.

Alan Journet / Jacksonville

When will our neighbors wake up to what’s happening?

Legislators generally represent their constituents when they consider whether to support or oppose federal proposals. But this doesn’t seem to be the case for Representative Cliff Bentz, Oregon District 2 including Jackson County. 

Cutting federal Medicaid funding would hit Oregon especially hard, particularly in rural areas. Roughly 1 in 3 Oregonians relies on Medicaid, including 28% of Deschutes County’s population and 47% of those in Jefferson County. Meanwhile, in CD2 29% or 158,000 residents are Medicaid or CHIP recipients, the highest percentage by far in the state. But, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting, displaying zero empathy for his constituents, Bentz said of Medicaid recipients being dropped: “If Oregonians are kicked off Medicaid, it’s because they don’t deserve to be on it.”

Nationally, some 70 million of us are enrolled in Medicaid. Given the fervor of Trump and his followers to cut Medicaid payments, it’s ironic that generally, it’s red states and red counties that contain the most enrollees. Thus, far from targeting blue states and counties with his efforts to reduce spending, Trump is actually targeting red counties such as Jackson and Josephine counties and Eastern Oregon, areas that regularly vote Republican and have supported him, twice.

Whether the White House and Congress are targeting health care, veterans, forest management, or farmers/ranchers, it seems that time and again, those of us living in Jackson and Josephine counties have a bull’s eye on our backs. The question to ask is: When will our neighbors wake up to what is happening?

Trisha Vigil / Medford