It is with great difficulty that we write about recent events in the United States: shootings of civilians on the streets of Minneapolis; abuse alleged to be unfolding in detention facilities as the administration pursues an unprecedented campaign to deport individuals it says are in the country illegally; the sheer disrespect for parts of its immigrant community; and the disregard by that administration of the most elemental features of a society ruled by respect for the law.

It is difficult not because we, like most Americans, are not there to witness these abuses in person. Nor is it because we are a different nation, with a different history, culture and a different relationship between the state and the individual. It is difficult because we empathize with the pain, suffering and humiliations that the victims are experiencing; because we are embarrassed that the image of the U.S. has been stained; and because we’re feeling an extraordinary sense of loss over what that country, our ally, partner and friend, has become.

When Donald Trump took office a second time as president, voters backed his campaign pledge to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” They believed that enforcement would focus on criminals. They did not anticipate summary campaigns with brutal tactics that would sweep up individuals who had long been part of their communities, many of whose only crime consisted of entering the country illegally. In rare cases, American citizens have been detained and deported.