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I am writing in response to your article in the July 19/20 edition regarding the ICE apprehension in South Williamsport on Thursday, July 17, 2025. According to the lede in the article, the key word is "working." These men were working. They were not selling drugs or trafficking children or committing rape or murder. They were working. This fact alone raises some serious concerns. Why were they working at this particular property? How were they employed? Who hired them? The article says a “roofing company” vehicle was on site, so why was the company vehicle not identified in the article? If the agents arrived in unmarked SUVs, what assurance does the public have that these agents were legitimate officers of the law? Your article doesn't say.
As I see it, these men were working on this roof because they had been hired to do so; I doubt that they were working for free. If they were working on behalf of a 'roofing company,' why does that company bear no responsibility for verifying the status of its employees? It is only speculation that these workers were undocumented until their status is verified. The company that hired them, however, does have the responsibility to fully vet its workers. Did these men fill out a W-2 or a 1099? Did they provide a Social Security number to the company? Did they have valid driver's licenses? Any legitimate company would be obligated to verify this basic information before hiring anyone. It seems to me that you cannot fault the workers for working and turn a blind eye to the 'roofing company's' apparent lack of due diligence. The workers are penalized because they are desperate for work, but there are no legal consequences for the companies that hire them. How is that fair? And if these workers are detained, what happens to the wages they earned before they were detained? Does the hiring company then benefit again from free labor altogether? We cannot allow this double standard to continue!
And by the way, if these workers are taking jobs away from Americans, why aren't Americans applying for these jobs? If the roofing company is hiring undocumented workers, that obviously means that no American workers were interested in these jobs. The pattern in this country has long been that undocumented workers are utilized to take jobs Americans won't. Those workers are usually hired at a lower wage because their employers know that their status is undocumented, and they can be exploited. If Americans are 'too good' to work in the fields or on rooftops, why should we punish those who will take those jobs, even for a lower wage? If they want to work and are willing to work for what they are paid, surely we can find a way. The American workforce is not harmed if the American workforce doesn't want these jobs.
During the last presidential campaign, Mr Trump promised to deport drug dealers, human traffickers, murderers, rapists, and those he called "the worst of the worst." I support that stance; those people should be removed. But roofers, field hands, car wash workers, day laborers and other job-seekers are not those people. As a nation, we pride ourselves on being problem solvers. I have every confidence that we can fix this.
THEODORE COCKLEY
Loyalsock Township
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom