The May 9 Sundial article “Passports to be required of citizens re-entering the U.S.,” is just one more example of how the United States is being turned in a police state, with the war on terror being used as an excuse. “Papers, please” used to be the slogan of secret police organizations, such as the Gestapo. But now, every low-grade federal employee at an airport is going to be playing the Junior G-Man.

I just got my passport renewed. The return envelope included a notice from the State Department warning against engaging in illegal activities abroad, such as “drug trafficking.”

Huh? Doesn’t the president tell us at least once a week that the United States stands for “freedom” and “liberty”? If so, why are Americans being penalized for a victimless crime like engaging in the “underground economy”? And why are Americans being treated like subjects instead of citizens? Surely the government isn’t lying to us, right?

If we really want to talk about Americans committing crimes abroad, then what about the U.S. government itself? Are government officials who engage in illegal activities, such as torture, someday going to be stopped and arrested for their crimes?

Federal police agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, routinely engage in illegal activities abroad, such as kidnapping foreign suspects and bringing them to the United States for trial in defiance of extradition laws. Sounds like a real suspicious bunch.

Time to put the feds in jail, which is where they belong!

Joseph Miranda,

Political science

graduate student