Four years ago this winter, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement started an intensive campaign targeting local undocumented immigrants. Both at the time and now, this manhunt appeared to be a vindictive and nearly pointless effort to make an example of hardworking people whose only sin, in most cases, was seeking better economic opportunities for their families.

Coupled with other actions, like the ban on travel from several arbitrarily selected majority-Muslim countries, local ICE arrests were a symbolic strong-arm display put on for the enjoyment of the nation’s nativist minority.

In theory, ICE raids were supposed to catch “bad hombres” — lawbreakers who were also arrested and deported by the Obama administration. And some of those swept up in local dragnets starting in 2017 were guilty of significant transgressions like drunken driving and domestic violence. It is not unreasonable to expect those who live here without having followed immigration rules should, at a minimum, be on their best behavior.

However, under the Trump administration, ICE agents and administrators abandoned common sense. Eventually, this led to horrifying separations of children from their families at the border and other transgressions of basic human rights. Locally, many parents were deported or detained in Tacoma, Washington, leaving spouses and children in limbo. Students were withdrawn from school. Employers were left scrambling.

In one of the worst breaches of ordinary civil practice, a husband who spoke to Chinook Observer and Seattle Times writers about his wife’s detention was specifically targeted for having spoken out. This was unconscionable.

Aftereffects linger on. Once-vibrant entrepreneurial efforts aimed at marketing Hispanic foods and products were choked off. A thriving Latino soccer league faded away. Racist taunts became more commonplace. Proud people were forced by circumstances to keep their heads down. Shattered trust will be hard to restore.

There have been calls to disband ICE. We would not go so far. In this day and age of climate disruption and civil strife in Central America, the U.S. cannot afford to take in everyone who wants to come. Border security shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

But there must be accountability for childhood separations at the southern border and local ICE predation on otherwise law-abiding resident immigrants. Individual agents who behaved like bullies deserve to experience adverse career consequences. New ICE administrators should come to this community to outline specific steps being taken to ensure that federal laws are enforced in even-handed ways.

Immigration is likely to remain among the hottest of hot-button issues. President Joe Biden has begun a process of outlining a tough but fair path toward normalizing the status of the millions who live here without legal documents. This is obviously necessary. Parents with children born here with U.S. citizenship can’t just be kicked out. Valuable workers remain vital to a host of American industries, including seafood processing, agriculture and hospitality here on the coast. We need them, and we should welcome them.

At the same time, the concerns of immigration skeptics shouldn’t be completely disregarded. When we create a path toward eventual legal citizenship for people who didn’t follow the rules, we may invite future transgressions by others hoping for the same courtesy. Reforms must be cautiously crafted to avoid incentivizing illegal border crossings.

As we first observed in 2017, for most of us, it’s possible to believe the U.S. should regulate who comes in and stays here, and yet also believe it is inhumane and economically self-sabotaging to kick out productive immigrants who hold down jobs and raise kids here. Pragmatically, low-population counties like ours lack the excess workforce to fill the vacancies created by wholesale deportations.

Level-headed Republican and Democratic U.S. senators developed such a compromise years ago — a path to normalization for immigrants who are committed to decent, long-term lives here. It’s time for the nation’s business leaders to press politicians to recognize the reality of this situation. We must find ways to address labor needs while making sure we know and control who enters the country.