Tucson Speaks Out: January 29

I have lost trust in federal officials

Border Patrol head Greg Bovino says his agents have extensive law enforcement training.

Law enforcement training requires preservation of a crime scene. ICE released a picture of a pistol on a car seat as proof that killing Alex Pretti was justified and proof, he was intent on slaughtering law enforcement officials. A picture of a pistol on a car seat is proof that there is a pistol on a car seat. It is also proof that a crime scene hasn't been preserved.

ICE agents justified the killing of Renee Good falsely claiming she was using her car as a weapon to attack an ICE agent standing in front of her car. Law enforcement training teaches officers not to place themselves in front of a car.

ICE agents aren't law enforcement agents. They're thugs who lie and those lies have destroyed our ability to trust.

Mike Carran

West side

'Slightly more funds'

1/26/26: B1: RTA tax measure coming to voters

I presume “slightly” is a very subjective word. On page B2, in the text of rest of the RTA article, City Manager Tim Thomure states the difference between 65% contributed and 55% benefited in RTA funds is slight.

10% more over 55% is an increase of 18.18%. I am reasonably sure most people receiving an 18% increase on their paycheck would consider that significant, not slight.

Also, for 20 years, Tucson was shorted that 10% differential between cost and benefit. Will the next 20 years, under RTA Next, accrue more benefit than cost to Tucson? A 10% funding advantage for Tucson until 2046? Sounds fair and not totally unreasonable. Slightly more, right?

James Abels

Midtown

Safe, smart, local transportation vs. RTA Next

Tucson voters recently approved Proposition 411 because it was clear, targeted, and responsive to real needs. Prop 411 funds street repair, safety improvements, and neighborhood infrastructure. You can see the results in smoother neighborhood roads (all neighborhood roads are being re-paved over the next 7 years), safer roads and crossings, and projects that directly improve the quality of life.

RTA Next is a massive plan that is vague in outcomes and expensive in ways that are hard to justify. Many of their ads talk about fixing potholes, but it’s a bait-and-switch. Instead of fixing dangerous streets and maintenance, RTA Next spends the most on road expansions with uncertain benefits and high risk.

Prop 411 shows what works: focused investments tied to safety and daily experience. RTA Next is the opposite. That’s why I’m voting NO on Propositions 418 and 419 so Tucson can invest in real transportation safety and quality of life.

Colby Henley

Midtown

My love letter to President Trump

Since I was raised to be respectful of those in authority, I’ll be kind. Honestly, though, the first year of your second term — especially these past 2 months — has left me challenged. Your overarching goal of ridding the U.S. of the worst of the worst is a noble cause and one which I believe most of us can support. Additionally, I don’t envy ICE and Homeland Security staff tasked with that job.

However, the WH version of what occurred in the deaths of nurse Alex Pretti and Renee Good, mother of three, purportedly domestic terrorists, gives me pause. Vivid and graphic videos don’t support that position. If they’re the worst of the worst, there’s little hope for the rest of us.

Since our Constitutional rights continue to be compromised since the beginning of your 2nd term, I believe the legacy you desire to leave — much like the Nobel Peace Prize you covet — will be for naught. You can do better.

Louise Heaberlin-Goff

Vail

Cruelty is the point

Why do we have heavily armed, anonymous, masked, poorly trained paramilitary units in our cities intimidating, roughing up, and arresting people merely suspected of being in the U.S. illegally (a misdemeanor), including U.S. citizens? One was pulled out of her car through the window. Another was marched into the street in his underwear. Two were shot dead. These are the “jack-booted thugs” the GOP once complained about. As recent LTEs noted, Obama deported over 5 million people, Biden a little under 5 million. Very few were hardened criminals nor were they treated as such. No U.S. citizens were jailed, beaten or shot. The racists in the current administration, most notably Stephen Miller and the Commander in Thief, aided and abetted by Noem and others, clearly encourage the violence and cruelty because they want spectacle for their supporters. That is the point.

Vance Holliday

Foothills

Sanctuary states/cities

If the sanctuary cities were not harboring illegals with criminal backgrounds ICE could proceed with their duties without incident but that is not the case. The protests which are far from peaceful are not occurring in red states as local law enforcement is working with ICE. The media and the Democrats are referring to the criminal illegals as if they were citizens, no surprise. Trump pledged to deport the illegals, and he is doing exactly that. There was no skirmish when Obama deported 3 million illegals, all the noise is partisan politics. The Democrats do not want any deportations as they see those as potential voters. It is unfortunate that 2 people have been killed. These protests have funding from the likes of George Soros who want to destabilize America as we know it. The hate for America has no regard for the citizens. Power and control is what they are striving for.

Bill Dowdall

Oro Valley

Senate, keep government open

The House has passed the appropriations bill to fund the government. And now the Senate needs to do the same. Senate: Do not shut down the government including FEMA and TSA.

The Fiscal Year 2026 Homeland Security Appropriations Act provides $64.4 billion in total discretionary funding, a $600 million decrease overall from fiscal year 2025.

Because Republicans provided over $190 billion for the Department of Homeland Security in OBBBA, Congress’ failure to pass a Homeland Security appropriations bill would not shut down ICE or CBP.

But the bill does include new guardrails, accountability and transparency measures across the Department of Homeland Security. And is funding:

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): The bill provides $5.7 billion for FEMA.

Transportation Security Agency (TSA)

U.S. Coast Guard

U.S. Secret Service (USSS)

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Science and Technology Directorate

Pamela Furrie

Oro Valley

Murder most foul

Check out the New York Times. It has frame-by-frame footage of the murder of Alex Pretti. And yes, it's clear that the attack on Mr. Pretti was, from the first moment, an overreaction to Mr. Pretti's attempt to protect a woman who had been shoved to the ground by an ICE agent. The frame-by-frame then shows Mr. Pretti on the ground with 6 agents holding him down. It shows him being hit repeatedly in the head by one of the ICE operatives before they shoot the unarmed man. These videos leave no doubt as to the facts and the lies coming from Washington. I was hesitant to post this for fear of retribution, but silence kills and I cannot allow my America to be turned into another dictatorship through fear.

Cynthia Schiesel

East side

Prevent Hudbay's pipeline

To protect groundwater, can you help make your voice known to revoke a Town of Sahuarita agreement?

The agreement allows Hudbay Minerals to construct an underground water pipeline along Santa Rita Rd., to the planned Copper World mine of the Santa Rita Mountains.

Preventing the water pipeline can block Toronto-based Hudbay’s preferred route to transmit more than three billion gallons of groundwater from its well field just east of Sahuarita to Copper World.

The 2013 agreement requires Hudbay to replenish 105% of groundwater used to operate Copper World in the immediate area from where it is taken. Research reveals there is no chance Hudbay can replenish a fraction of the water it will pump, let alone 105%.

A loophole of the agreement has no penalty if Hudbay fails to recharge 105% of the aquifer. The agreement only requires Hudbay to replace the town’s water production well if damaged by Copper World’s groundwater pumping.

This is deceitful, has no penalties for inadequate replenishment, and needs to be stopped.

Leslie Martiny

Northwest side

Why?

The national tragedy of Alex Pretti should never have occurred. That being said, even with a permit to carry, why would anyone bring a loaded gun with extra ammo to a "peaceful" protest? Nothing good could happen.

Robert Emery

Foothills

ICE are mercenaries, not terrorists

As someone who has lived abroad in Europe and the Middle East, I find conflicting accusations of terrorism to be misleading, either by citizens accusing ICE agents or, ironically, by the Trump administration labeling ICE victims as terrorists. While the Trump cabal charges are to be expected given their facility for lying to cover their incompetence, what Americans would never have anticipated is being threatened and murdered by fellow Americans acting as mercenaries, i.e. guns for hire, no experience needed. ICE agents clearly see themselves as having free rein to arrest and kill to assert their power, openly defying local police. Many appear to be mentally disturbed - Pretti required ten gunshots to kill him when he could have been handcuffed and disarmed? ICE agents represent the lowest common denominator of human beings imaginable, offered employment by Trump-appointed administration officials whom he defends. This is the level to which America has shrunk under the atmosphere of fear and fanaticism backed by the White House.

Charles Smith

North side

ICE or immigrants?

Trump recently posted on social media, "Do the people of Minnesota really want to live in a community in which there are thousands of already convicted murderers, drug dealers and addicts, rapists, violent released and escaped prisoners, dangerous people from mental institution and insane asylums, and other deadly criminals too dangerous to even mention?"

I know Trump is old and had some mental lapses, so I wonder, is he referring to: (A) illegal immigrants, (B) ICE agents, or (C) some members of his own cabinet?

Given recent events and the use of the words "murderers," violent," "drug dealers and addicts," dangerous people," and "criminals so dangerous," I go with a tie between ICE agents and cabinet members.

Gary Haslett

SaddleBrooke