To Republican, law-and-order people: Please, explain why it is necessary for President Trump to uphold the law and deport illegal immigrants while giving a pardon or commutation to the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. It is fair to require immigrants to wait in line and come here legally — but how is that consistent with the pardons? More than 140 officers were injured by pro-Trump rioters, and five officers died as a result of the violence. A report in The Guardian noted that “those pardoned include more than 250 people who were convicted of assault charges, some having attacked police with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and a crutch. Many of the attacks were captured on surveillance or body-camera footage that showed rioters engaging in hand-to-hand combat with police as officers desperately fought to beat back the angry crowd.” Slipped in with the 1,500 Jan. 6 pardons was also a pardon for Ross Ulbricht, who was serving two life sentences for running a $200 million dark website selling illegal narcotics and other drugs. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around these incongruities.

Ronald Bessette

Concord