For the next couple of minutes, try to step back from the emotions and fears and political views and focus on the people.

Imagine being an agent for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (commonly referred to as ICE) today.

I’ll admit that I don’t personally know anyone who is an ICE agent and thus I haven’t had the opportunity to discuss what it is like to be in their shoes, but I can take a minute to envision it.

Think about it.

As I’ve considered it over the last few weeks, I’ve concluded that it must be an extremely hard position to be in.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 22,000 people are now employed by ICE. That’s enough to fill BYU’s LaVell Edwards Stadium more than a third of its capacity.

I suspect that if we took the time to sit down and talk to the majority of those 22,000 ICE employees, we would discover they are just like we are. They have hopes and dreams, care for their families and friends, support their favorite sports teams and restaurants, and generally want to be good people.

I think of those who work for ICE here in Utah Valley. I’ve been told that the majority of these individuals live here with many being born and raised here. Their families probably go to our schools and they probably attend the same churches and shop at the same stores.

And while the enforcement of immigration laws continue to be a challenge even here, I haven’t heard stories of violence or brutality like we have heard elsewhere.

I think it is fair to expect them to do their jobs to the best of their ability just like we do, but hopefully they do them with kindness, understanding and diligence as much as possible.

I wonder whether those individuals deserve to drive down the street and see people cursing the organization they work for. I’ve heard unconfirmed stories about people confronting individuals because they think they might work for ICE.

Is this who we want to be?

I don’t want to downplay in any way the tragedies that have unfolded in other places in our nation. It’s heartbreaking to see the violence and harassment and — in the very worst cases — the deaths.

But since when do we judge everyone in an organization based on the actions of the few?

If we did that, I suspect every single group we belong to — neighborhoods, volunteer organizations, political parties, university alumni, etc. — could find negative examples that we don’t want to be associated with. Humans make bad decisions that hurt other people and we can’t escape that fact.

We also can’t ignore the actions of decision-makers at both the national and local levels, which I think have clearly created some terrible situations.

But I still firmly believe in the foundational legal principle of innocent until proven guilty.

No matter how many videos are shown or how many talking heads weigh in with their opinions on events, I have to acknowledge that I don’t know everything that takes place.

And I don’t have to.

I don’t have to be judge and jury for everything that everyone does. We have systems in place to attempt to do that. They aren’t perfect, of course, since they involve imperfect people, but that’s where the responsibility is. Everyone needs to face the consequences of their actions.

So I can just be a person who respects the humanity of those involved.

I don’t need to agree with what ICE agents do or protestors do or immigrants do or politicians do. And I often won’t.

But I can afford to them the same respect that I want them to afford to me as a human being.

I deserve it and so do they.

So my invitation is to step back from the rhetoric and the fear-mongering and the angst, and instead focus on the fact that we are all just people.

I think we do better when we let that be the guiding principle.

Jared Lloyd is the managing editor of the Daily Herald and can be reached at jlloyd@heraldextra.com.