This article inspired by “Lost Souls of Leningrad” was written by a journalist/novelist friend of mine, Michael J. Fitzgerald, who writes a column for the Finger Lake Times in Geneva, NY. This article was published on April 4, 2025.

I just finished reading “Lost Souls of Leningrad” a page-turner, historic novel by Suzanne Parry set in Stalinist Russia on the eve of and during World War II.

Like all good historical fiction, this book takes the very real, very-horrible historical events of those years to help spin a tale about the impacts of war: civilian starvation, Nazi air raids, personal tragedies, everyone living fearfully in a brutal dictatorship and
their resilience through it all.

Pondering “Lost Souls,” I imagine a historical novel written years from now set in these very days in the United States, swirling with the events we are living through. Would-be novelists should keep careful notes.

Early in “Lost Souls” I read with particular horror about police rounding up people for allegedly doing – or saying – things contrary to the dictates and whims of the Communist Party and Josef Stalin. Some were also dragged in because Stalin simply wanted them hurt or to disappear. There was no due process – what we all normally expect in our country. Instead, no judges, no evidence presented or any kind of trials. People were simply taken into custody by government agents, thrown into prisons or
work camps – or died while being held.

These WWII-era Russian abductions are eerily similar to the situation in our nation in which the rule of law and due process are being ignored. News reports in the last few weeks make a case that no one – not just immigrants – may be safe from the wide dragnets cast by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE.

Documented cases reveal ICE has been scooping up people, holding them in custody then dispatching them to other nations or private prisons in the U.S. Some of these abductions have made it into the media. Many have not. According to news reports, these people are not given their rights, rights any of you reading this would expect if someone claiming to be the law slipped the handcuffs or restraints on you. There are no phone calls, no court proceedings or judges hearing anything about or from these abductees. As reported widely, some people simply are disappearing. And these aren’t undocumented immigrants. The people I’m talking about are in the United States legally, with the
documents to prove it. Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk.

The actions of ICE operatives and motives for these abductions were outlined in a national press briefing last week sponsored by American Community Media. Immigration and legal experts noted that what began with ICE targeting undocumented individuals for deportation has morphed into indiscriminately grabbing naturalized citizens and students, some who have espoused unpopular political views.

“People have a right to defend themselves,” said David Leopold, former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “People are going to be victimized by this. This touches us all.”

Leopold says there is a larger agenda going on other than immigration to normalize suspension of due process using immigration as the wedge, to make it easier to stifle dissent and free speech. But Leopold wrote that “due process matters as a cornerstone of fairness and justice and is not a mere legal technicality.”

Indeed.

Anyone detained by ICE, should be given their legal rights. Period.

One way for that to happen is for ICE to be directed by the president to do so. Ditto for the head of Homeland Security. Also, Congress could suspend funding for the agency. But members of Congress are likely fearful of getting an icy knock on their door and a one-way trip to some private prison. That’s the way authoritarian governments run by dictators operate.

We are still a democracy, not a dictatorship. The rule of law, due process and the Constitution remain supreme. We should all be afraid if it isn’t.

Fitzgerald has worked at six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for two news services. He splits his time between Valois, N.Y., and the Pacific Northwest. You can email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@gmail.com and visit his websites
at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com and michaeljfitzgerald.substack.com.