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Newsom’s funding threat
sounds like extortion

Re: “Newsom threatens to stop funding” (Page A1, Oct. 4).

Gov. Newsom is acting like an extortionist. His threat to withhold university funding unless schools publicly oppose President Trump’s demands is political coercion. Public universities should not be strong-armed into adopting the governor’s preferred positions. Their mission is education and open inquiry, not serving as instruments of partisan pressure.

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What makes this especially troubling is the hypocrisy. Newsom built his political brand by criticizing Trump for using federal funds as a political weapon. Yet now he is employing the same tactic, undermining the consistency and credibility for which he once claimed to stand.

The state’s future depends on universities that foster debate, discovery and diversity of thought, not on leaders who use financial leverage to demand conformity.

I teach corporate leadership, and I know credibility and consistency are cornerstones of effective governance. Newsom’s two-faced approach erodes confidence in his judgment and his ability to lead.

Curtis Panasuk
San Jose

ICE tactics terrorize
immigrant community

The U.S Supreme Court issued a decision that clears the way for racial profiling during immigration raids and sweeps. Our hard-working Latino community was already on edge, and now this adds more fear.

Here in the Bay Area, we see firsthand how our immigrant community has contributed to our cities and neighborhoods. The Latino community has helped build the culture and diversity of the Bay Area. ICE workers wearing masks and preventing people from seeing their faces strip our community of dignity and show an abuse of power.

When groups or institutions act and operate without treating people with basic human dignity, the individuals who experience the institution’s power become alienated and dehumanized. Individuals who pose no threat are being pinned down and criminalized by ICE, leaving our Latino community fearful of stepping outside.

Immigrants seeking opportunity and better jobs deserve to be treated with basic human respect and compassion.

Katie Contreras
Redwood City

Americans must stand
against ICE aggression

Re: “Using chemical agents, helicopters, ICE increasing aggression” (Page A4, Oct. 6).

Thank you for covering last week’s appalling militaristic attack on the residents of a Chicago apartment building. In the dead of night, federal agents dressed for combat rappelled from helicopters, tossed flash-bangs, kicked in apartment doors, trashed apartments, separated young children from their parents, and indiscriminately detained and zip-tied residents, including children and U.S. citizens — all without a warrant.

In addition to being cruel and inhumane, this violent escalation of force violated the Fourth Amendment, which disallows unreasonable searches and seizures and requires warrants.

I’d urge people of conscience, regardless of political leanings, to strongly object to the vilification of and aggression against U.S. residents. Speak for decency, humanity and a government that abides by the law. Share your objections with friends and family. Contact your elected representatives. And find other ways to express your values. This is no time for silence, passivity or complicity.

Barbara Fukumoto
Sunnyvale

Raids, shutdown are
1-2 punch to families

Immigration raids and now a government shutdown generate fear and frustration among families.

Field workers who gather crops are constantly concerned about being brought to prison facilities with horrible conditions. Meanwhile, millions of government employees, such as soldiers, are not paid during shutdowns. Essential personnel must continue to work while not receiving pay, while non-essential employees are instructed not to show up. Services that families rely on begin to collapse. WIC and SNAP food assistance are delayed, airports are understaffed and low-income women struggle to get basic services. Daily, children and parents face uncertainty, worry and fear.

It is unfair that hard-working people have to deal with both anxiety and financial hardship while caring for their families. Constant anxiety, financial difficulties and delays in essential services will make daily life difficult for the community.

Stephanie Ortiz-Mancera
Monterey

ACA subsidies aid more
citizens than tax cut

Re: “Democrats battling over Biden-era spending” (Page A9, Oct. 5).

The ACA health insurance marketplaces opened for enrollment on Oct. 1, 2013. Starting in 2014, the ACA has capped health insurance premiums as a percent of income based on a sliding scale, with the federal government absorbing the remainder as a tax credit.

Enhanced tax credits were introduced in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan and later extended in 2022 through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act. The GOP did not support either one.

The premium payments will more than double for many of the 24 million enrollees if enhanced ACA subsidies are not extended. Three out of four ACA enrollees live in states where Donald Trump won.

The top 1% of wage earners will get tax cuts of $117 billion a year, while the ACA subsidies would cost just $35 billion. Which program serves more people and costs less?

Mohan Raj
San Jose