To Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, Commandant U.S. Coast Guard
and all who have served in the nation’s finest seagoing service
We are veterans of the United States Coast Guard who once wore the same uniform you wear today, joined by veterans of every service who share the same alarm and outrage. We all swore the same oath: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath binds us not to any individual, party or agency, but to the principles of justice, liberty, and human dignity.
It is in that spirit that we condemn the complicity of the U.S. Coast Guard in transporting shackled men, women, and even children for ICE. For some time now, Coast Guard C-27 Spartan and C-130 Hercules aircraft - once dedicated to the proud missions of rescue and lifesaving - have instead been used as tools of fear, ferrying human beings across the country like cargo in a deportation machine. Masked agents load innocent people in chains, torn from families, schools, churches, hospitals, and often the only life they have known, denying them due process, and sowing terror in our communities. Make no mistake: this is not “border security”, It is not "repatriating Cubans or Haitians at sea.” It is a collaboration in cruelty. It is Gestapo behavior in a Coast Guard uniform.
Participation in this mission directly contradicts the first two of the Coast Guards Core Values, Honor and Respect. This mission shows no Honor or Respect for the dignity or worth of these immigrants. It shows no Honor or Respect for the U.S. Constitution in denying immigrants their rights to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
The Coast Guard’s motto - Semper Paratus - “Always Ready” - has long meant being ready to save lives, to protect, to bring people home safely and to fight for those who lack the ability to fight for themselves. From hurricane rescues to crewing historic lifesaving stations, Coast Guard veterans have always been able to take pride in their service in which humanity came first. That legacy is now being stained by complicity in ICE’s machinery of hate and injustice.
We urge every Coast Guard member: Do not repeat the mistakes of history. “Just following orders” was the excuse of rail workers in Nazi-occupied Europe who transported victims to death camps. Today, the Coast Guard is transporting innocent human beings to be deported to places in which they may face a lifetime of incarceration or worse, death. History judged those rail workers harshly. In the short term, carrying out these missions may win approval from superiors. In the long term, it will tarnish our service's reputation, your personal honor, and the nation itself.
Veterans For Peace and our Coast Guard veterans standing alongside Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force veterans to call on the Commandant of the Coast Guard’s leadership to resist, refuse and if necessary, resign rather than further implicate the Coast Guard in this highly unethical mission. Return the service to its proud legacy of saving lives, standing up for people's rights and defending the Constitution.
Stop these flights. Break ranks with injustice. Restore the honor of the Coast Guard. Be remembered not as collaborators in cruelty, but as defenders of human rights and defenders of humanity.
In Peace and Solidarity,
Coast Guard veterans in Veterans For Peace
and fellow veterans from all branches of service
Reverend Raymond O’Dell Joshua Shurley
USCG Aircrew (1984-2008) Retired Vice President, Veterans For Peace
Greg Corning Jerry Markatos
USCG 1981-1986 USCG 1965-1971
USCG Civ Employee 1987-2013
Fio Fiorettie Gilbert E. Field
USCG Aircrew 2013-2021 USCGR 1970-1976
Charlie Christ Benjamin Cooksey USCG Aircrew 2017-2023 USCG 2004-2008
Stephen Tonjes Peter S. Morgan Jr.
USCG 1971-1974 USCG 1969-1973
Dylan Pentonex Roger Cunningham USCG Aircrew 2011-2022 USCG 1973-1975
Craig D. Lewis Aaron Grover
USCG 1972-1980 USCG 1998-2006
Charles Haas
USCG 1963-1971