Regarding James Mayotte’s letter “Peaceful Protests,” (July 1), I do wish that all peaceful protest remained peaceful. However, If I were being grabbed off the street by armed masked people who would not identify themselves, say where they were taking me, or letting me contact family, I might be grateful if passerbys intervened.

We were told the very worst would be deported. That is not what is happening. Many going to appointments to correct or maintain their status have been arrested. As was the case of the nursing mother who thought she had some protection because her husband was a Marine veteran. Then there was the green card holder caught in the wrong lane of traffic while delivering food and crossed the Detroit bridge into Canada. His plan to make a U-turn (as often happens there). He was arrested and facing deportation for invalidating his green card by leaving the country.

Republicans seem to ignore, undocumented people make a significant percentage of workers in many fields – restaurants, hotels, health care, farming, food processing. There’s also thousand who suddenly lost TPS status with no warning.

Why not fix the system? There was a bipartisan solution in the works that seemed ready to go. Until a person with great influence with Republicans shot it down. He did not want to lose the campaign issue or have Biden credited with the fix.

Mr. Mayotte decries violent or disruptive civil unrest. Sorry, there is no room on the high road for Republicans after Jan. 6.

Susanne Whitbeck

Pembroke