Dehumanizing rhetoric invites abuses of humans

Brooklyn: In a February 10 opinion piece titled “A $12 Billion Alarm for Mayor Mamdani,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis made several misleading claims. She alleged that a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request she filed revealed approximately 4,000 criminal migrants in shelters who had been arrested for 16,000 crimes. However, the actual FOIL response indicated that from January 1, 2023, to October 31, 2024, there were 1,049 crimes reported in city-operated migrant shelters.

During this time, New York City welcomed 220,000 migrants, largely due to the actions of Texas’ Republican governor who sent them as a political statement. This resulted in a crime rate of 4.77 per 1,000 residents in migrant shelters, significantly lower than Manhattan’s 41.6 per 1,000 residents. The 16,371 crimes Malliotakis referred to were incidents occurring within 1,000 feet of these shelters and were not necessarily committed by migrants.

Malliotakis has previously been criticized for disseminating inaccurate information linking immigrants to crime, despite evidence that immigrants generally commit crimes at lower rates than the general population. The consequences of such rhetoric have been severe, including a tragic incident where masked federal agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis while targeting “criminal illegal aliens,” inciting fear among law-abiding immigrants and citizens. It’s imperative for publications like The Daily News to fact-check op-ed claims to prevent spreading harmful misinformation. Jay Sheth

Budget bluster

Staten Island: Malliotakis also highlighted several financial statistics without providing full context. She noted that New York City’s budget has grown by about 45% since 2014, but when adjusted for inflation, the increase is closer to 8%. Meanwhile, the national debt has more than doubled under both parties’ leadership. Compared to this, NYC’s fiscal growth seems relatively modest. Malliotakis criticized the $7 billion expenditure on migrants, focusing on crime, but omitted that these funds primarily supported local businesses, shelters, and nonprofits, bolstering the city’s economy. Addressing humanitarian challenges should not be seen as a fiscal regret. Furthermore, her column offered no substantial solutions beyond comparing NYC to Florida, which falls short of constructive policymaking. Gina Ottrando

Ordinary measure

Lake Ariel, Pa.: There’s ongoing debate about voter ID requirements, with some liberal Democrats opposing them, labeling them as discriminatory. I’ve had to show ID for numerous activities like opening accounts, flying, purchasing alcohol, and more. It seems reasonable to require ID for voting, a fundamental right fought for by many brave Americans. Joseph Beyhl

Look within

Woodland Park, N.J.: Senator Marco Rubio recently traveled to Munich, advocating for unity between the U.S. and Europe. While the sentiment is commendable, the real divide began back home with policies like Trump’s tariffs and other international stances. If Rubio seeks genuine unity, delivering this message in Washington, particularly to U.S. leadership, might be more effective. John Dent

Election intimidation

Manhattan: All signs point to an overwhelming blue wave in the House of Representatives in 2026 from voter outrage at the cost of living, disgust with the swamp of Jeffrey Epstein-friendly billionaires around Trump and horror at the cruel paramilitaries running amok in our cities. Sixty-five percent of Americans think ICE has gone way too far. The Senate is in play now, too, leaving Trump vulnerable to an impeachment trial. Naturally, he’s laying plans to subvert the midterm elections. Sidekick Steve Bannon wants to station ICE at key Democratic-majority polling places. There’s no reason for Republicans not to accede to Democrats’ demands that ICE adopt standard law enforcement practices, including no masks, visible ID and no warrantless arrests or home invasions. Harder for the GOP to swallow will be no ICE anywhere near the polls, or stopping people on their way there. Noncitizen voting is a GOP myth for at least 30 years. Gabrielle Shatan

Never called out

Bronx: On Feb. 3, during a press conference in the Oval Office, Kaitlin Collins, CNN’s chief White House correspondent who has worked for CNN since 2017, asked the president a question regarding survivors of the Epstein sex trafficking conspiracy. Instead of responding, Trump insulted her, first claiming that she never smiles because, he declared, she “never tells the truth,” then denigrated her as “the worst reporter. No wonder. CNN has no ratings because of people like you.” Not a single other reporter came to her defense. Why is that? Whenever Trump boasts about acing an “intelligence test,” why do none of the reporters in the room set him straight and tell him that the tests he takes are designed to determine whether a person is suffering from dementia? Miriam Levine Helbok

Previously unreleased

Eastchester, N.Y.: To Voicer Richard Skibins, who likened U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to being Donald Trump’s Ghislaine Maxwell: When Merrick Garland was AG, I didn’t see you saying how disgraceful he was. How come the Epstein files weren’t released during Joe Biden’s term? I guess the people actually running the show wouldn’t let them out. But I digress. Russell Pinto

Captions, please

Staten Island: I was hopeful that the Bad Bunny halftime show would have subtitles. I would have liked the chance to appreciate the music had I known what he was singing about. Myra B. Goodman

A few more

Huntington, L.I.: The teacher profiled in “Teaching our hidden history” (Feb. 8) stated that she plans to assign a Black History Month project to pick a figure from the African Diaspora — for example, Shirley Chisholm, Roberto Clemente and James Baldwin — write a short essay or Google slides, and get ready to present their research. I’d like to offer a few other worthy individuals to that list: Thomas Sowell and Walter E. Williams. I’d add another person who, while not part of the African Diaspora, has had a great impact upon the history of Black Americans: Lyndon Johnson. Tom Saracco

Indigenous knowledge

Williamsburg, N.M.: Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier has taught us that human trauma and planet trauma are one and the same. Whether it’s the distorted history of warriors like the Apache warrior Lozen, or the suppressed stories of the thawing Arctic tundra, the truth is finally coming out. We can’t have a healthy planet if we have a broken history. It’s time to listen to the people who were the “early warning system” for the rest of us. Laraine Schollmann

Olympian conception

White Plains, N.Y.: Now that the Olympic Village has run out of free condoms, I wonder how many future Olympians will be born in nine months. Randi Bernstein Feigenbaum