Immigration letters from America's interior homeland September 13th - September 16th 2016
DAILY BULLETIN
OPINION
Letters:09/16/16
Insecure borders put everybody in danger
I am the “woman” Donald Trump is hugging in the photo on page 6 (Sept. 1). My only son, Ronald da Silva, 29, was murdered on April 27, 2002.
The article states: “killed by a person living in the country without legal permission.” The person who murdered Ronald was an illegal immigrant who was deported and re-entered our country illegally.
It is a problem when the media doesn’t use the appropriate words to describe a persons legal status, trying to make it look and sound better.
My family left Hungary during the revolution and we legally immigrated into the United States via Brazil. We followed the rules and laws, and assimilated into the culture. But most of all, we respect this great country.
The liberal media doesn’t want to bring attention to the huge illegal immigration problem. My son, along with thousands of others killed by illegals, including all of those from The Remembrance Project on the stage at the Phoenix Trump Rally, fear everyday that we may lose another child or loved one because of open borders.
The irony of legal immigration issues is that my family “legally” immigrated to the U.S. and an illegal murdered my child.
Agnes Gibboney, Rancho Cucamoonga
http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinion/20160916/charter-schools-have-no-monopoly-on-success-letters
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Livingston Daily Press & Argus
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Trump will stop illegal aliens and help American workers
September 16, 2016
As I reflect upon Labor Day, I urge workers, both union and non-union, to consider supporting Donald Trump for president. Mr. Trump is the only candidate who will stop the flow of illegal aliens into our country. This influx of cheap labor is taking American jobs and depressing American wages.
The influx of illegal aliens disrupts the labor market, altering the balance of supply and demand. As the supply of illegal labor goes up, the price of all labor goes down. This means stagnating wages and a lower standard of living for all those here legally.
Wages of the American middle class are under assault from an odd political coalition. The Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with union bosses to open the illegal labor floodgates. Under pressure from the Chamber, establishment Republicans feign resistance to illegal immigration while actually doing nothing to prevent it. Beholden to their deep-pocketed donors, establishment lawmakers can’t afford to cross a primary source of campaign funds. The other coalition partner, union bosses are joined at the hip with Democrats. Union bosses push the open borders policy on the hope of recruiting more dues-paying members. They push the open borders policy in spite of the damage it does to the wages of their current members.
With Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, the American worker finally has an opportunity to vote for someone who will stem the flow of illegal labor, thus protecting the economic interests of the American middle class.
Wes Nakagiri
Hartland Township
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The Register Guard
LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG
The view from the ‘deplorables’
SEPT. 16, 2016
Thanks to Hillary Clinton, I now know how to identify myself.
Because I want our immigration laws enforced and our borders secured, I am “deplorable.”
Because I use the term “radical Islamic terrorists” to describe the Muslim extremists who threaten the civilized world, I am “deplorable.”
Because I am alarmed at the doubling of the national debt under President Obama’s watch, I am “deplorable.”
Because I support traditional marriage, I am “deplorable.”
Because I hold in contempt rioters, looters and those who advocate murdering our police officers, I am “deplorable.”
Because I advocate personal responsibility and accountability, I am “deplorable.”
Because I oppose letting into the U.S. tens of thousands of so-called “refugees” from countries that hate us and whose ranks the Islamic State has vowed to penetrate, I am “deplorable.”
Because I am angered at some of my relatives being devastated financially because of Obamacare, I am “deplorable.”
Because I’m not politically correct, I am “deplorable.”
I’ll give Clinton credit, though. In labeling millions of Americans “deplorable,” she was at least honest about her true feelings, probably for the first time during her campaign.
JERRY RITTER
Springfield
http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/34803483-78/the-view-from-the-deplorables.html.csp
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MILWAUKEE˖WISCONSIN
JOURNAL SENTINEL
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
September 15, 2016
Today’s letter writers discuss immigration.
Violating immigration laws?
Phil Reesman gave us some great perspective on immigration in his letter in the Sept. 11 Crossroads section (“Control melting pot,” Letters).
Immigration laws have been on the books for many years. Those laws were working just fine. Our government officials enforced them and obeyed them for a very long time. Then they violated these laws, failed to enforce them and allowed about 12 million immigrants to enter the United States illegally. Until then, we had been a nation of laws.
It has been said that these officials broke the laws to satisfy a need for cheap labor, to get second generation votes in future years from the children who are born here and to allow privileged people in the public and private sectors to make tons of money when the 12 million illegals entered the U.S. Some of that money went to the political parties and PACs. Congress could have repealed the existing laws and enacted new ones, but it took the quick and illegal way.
Which laws will be violated next? Follow the money and find out. It’s been going on somewhere. There’s too much involved.
Pete Luehring
West Bend
http://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/2016/09/15/letters-friday-sept/90429864/
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Missoulian
Illegal immigrants are lawbreakers
September 15, 2016
Driving without a license is driving illegally. Illegal drivers are lawbreakers, not undocumented drivers. Likewise, immigrants who enter the United States without following the law are illegal immigrants. They are lawbreakers.
Therefore, liberals who whitewash illegal immigrants as undocumented immigrants do not lessen their status as lawbreakers. That is why immigrants find the term “illegal” offensive. They want to be respected in their lawbreaker status.
Perhaps, instead of whining about the term “illegal,” they should to do the right thing. The right thing is to voluntarily leave the United States, and then re-enter legally. If not, they should stop whining and quietly marinate in their illegal and lawbreaker sauce.
Kevin Palmer,
Martinez, Georgia
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The News-Gazette
Election chance to set U.S. straight
09/15/2016
This 2016 election is a vast decision-maker. Our deadlocked Congress needs to listen to Americans.
The media are luring voters minds toward Hillary Clinton. On Aug. 23, columnist Jim Nowlan said the Illinois presidential race has been ceded to Clinton. Who promised this? King Madigan?
Some elite Republican Party members refuse to back the people's Republican nominee and are joining Clinton's campaign train. What an embarrassment to conservative Republicans. Do they believe the present government will not remain the governing body created to self-serve them? Americans, beware.
Congress needs to recognize we Americans have spoken.
We desire someone who will tell us the truth, reduce taxes, stop corruption, secure our borders, bring jobs home, reduce dependence on government, clean up the medical insurance fiasco, take care of our vets, stop illegal immigration, get rid of sanctuary cities that protect bad illegals, and build our military to where it was eight years ago - someone to help working-class Americans, not give the rich more riches.
Obama pledged to transform America. Americans didn't pay attention to how he was doing it. And corruption followed him from Chicago to Washington.
A vote for Clinton will continue this transformation. We don't need more taxes. We need to have God in our lives. We only want legal immigrants working in America.
We want extremely vetted refugees, not refugees who are self-radicalized terrorists.
Our country is going in the wrong direction. Wake up, America. This may be our last chance to make it right.
JANI MELTON
Philo
http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/2016-09-15/election-chance-set-us-straight.html
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Los Angeles Times
Readers React
Letters to the editor and readers' opinions..
Opinion Is there a compromise between religious freedom and assimilation for Muslim Americans?
September 15, 2016, 5:00 AM
To the editor: Shadi Hamid’s thoughtful article on Islamic faith and politics does not attempt to resolve the obvious contradiction he highlights. Hamid says that Muslims’ willingness to struggle for full religious freedom and nondiscrimination in the USA makes them “fully Muslim and fully American.”
(Re “Why Islam isn’t like other faiths,” Opinion, Sept. 11)
But he then goes on to explain that a theocratic state is a premise of the Islamic faith, so that if Muslims were in the majority nobody else would have freedom of religion or from Islamic religion. While focusing on the undoubted sincerity of the Muslim Americans who want freedom to wear religious garb in our society and in Europe, he ignores the theocratic intolerance and morality police of Islamic states.
Thomas Weiss, Woodland Hills
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-islam-20160915-snap-story.html
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Los Angeles Times
Readers React
Letters to the editor and readers' opinions..
Opinion Is there a compromise between religious freedom and assimilation for Muslim Americans?
September 15, 2016
To the editor: Hamid wrote an interesting and informative article concerning his Islamic faith, but he seems to miss the point. It’s not that Islam has failed to secularize. It’s that Islam has failed to allow others to secularize.
Conservative Islamic countries seem to have an inability to live in a society that contains non-Muslims. Forced faith is no faith at all.
Michael Harold, West Los Angeles
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-islam-20160915-snap-story.html
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Los Angeles Times
Readers React
Letters to the editor and readers' opinions..
Opinion Is there a compromise between religious freedom and assimilation for Muslim Americans?
September 15, 2016
To the editor: At church on Sunday, we discussed how to be more welcoming to Muslims. Afterward, I drove home - glad to live in a “secular” country where I can worship God without fear(and drive because I don’t live in a “religious” country like Saudi Arabia).
Still with warmth in my heart toward Muslims who decide to risk all and come here, I picked up this opinion piece. I could feel my heart growing colder.
I’m not so sure that Islam is “more complicated.” What I regret is when it becomes too simple. Sometimes it seems like thinking is not allowed. As an educated, intellectual Muslim, it is Hamid’s job to make Islam “look better” � show me how one can follow “every single letterr and word in the Koran” and keep from the aggression we have come to fear.
Hamid’s parents passionately claim this as “their country,” because they enjoy the fruits of the thoughtful “liberalism” that caused our founders to break away from European theocracies. Christians learned the hard way that a state dictating the religious beliefs of its citizens is unbearable.
So, as Hamid suggests, I will, sadly, call this “a difference” between our faiths.
Lynn Aldrich, Glendale
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-islam-20160915-snap-story.html
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Los Angeles Times
Readers React
Letters to the editor and readers' opinions..
Opinion Is there a compromise between religious freedom and assimilation for Muslim Americans?
September 15, 2016, 5:00 AM
To the editor: The opinion piece was thought-provoking. If I understood correctly, Islam is inherently incompatible with ongoing religious interpretation and with the separation of church and state, two core values of America. I hope to read scholarly articles from Muslims with differing views.
If Hamid’s article is accurate, then I wonder why do Muslims come to America? Fleeing deplorable situations at home, quality education and economic opportunities are possibilities.
Assimilation, another one of America’s core values, would be abhorrent to the devout. By definition, assimilation is not eliminating one’s heritage, but it does mean layering something new onto what one has. The negation of these values has me deeply concerned.
Carole Spencer, Chula Vista
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-islam-20160915-snap-story.html
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Aiken Standard
Letter: Illegal immigrants breaking the law
Sep 15 2016
Driving without a license is driving illegally. Illegal drivers are lawbreakers, not undocumented drivers. Likewise, immigrants who enter the United States without following the law are illegal immigrants. They are lawbreakers.
Therefore, liberals who whitewash illegal immigrants as undocumented immigrants do not lessen their status as lawbreakers. That is why immigrants find the term “illegal” offensive. They want to be respected in their lawbreaker status. Perhaps, instead of whining about the term “illegal,” they should to do the right thing. The right thing is to voluntarily leave the United States, and then re-enter legally. If not, they should stop whining and quietly marinate in their illegal and lawbreaker sauce.
Kevin Palmer
Martinez, Georgia
http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20160915/AIK0203/160919708
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TRIB LIVE
Crack down on criminal aliens
Letter to the Editor | Sept. 15, 2016
According to a March 2, 2015, “ICE Weekly Departures and Detention Report” obtained by Center for Immigration Studies expert Jessica Vaughan, there were 168,680 convicted criminal immigrants who had final orders of removal but who remained at large in the U.S. Another 179,018 convicted criminal immigrants with deportation cases pending also remained at large.
Over 20,000 more were released in 2015.
Not reported in mainstream media: “The IRS has discovered more than 1 million Americans whose Social Security numbers were stolen by illegal immigrants, but officials never bothered to tell the taxpayers themselves, the agency's inspector general said in a new report released Tuesday (8/2 7⁄16).”
“Employment-related identity theft can cause significant burden to taxpayers, including the incorrect computation of taxes based on income they did not earn,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, whose office issued the report.
There must be thousands who have successfully registered to vote online. In Pennsylvania, all you need is the last four digits of a Social Security number and your address at http://www.pacast.com. The website even asks “English or Spanish”?
It is actually harder to get a driver's license or personal I.D., as you need your Social Security card - not just the number.
If Donalld Trump is elected, these 1.1 million scofflaws must be found and immediately deported along with the rest of the criminal aliens as they, themselves, are criminals. Moreover this report proves citizens should have to show their identification when voting.
Frank Kushner
Delmont
http://triblive.com/opinion/letters/11117331-74/criminal-report-security
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The Post and Courier
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Letter: Immigrant ban
Sep 15 2016
In 1979, then-President Jimmy Carter used the authority granted to him under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (aka the Macarran-Walter Act) to ban Iranians from entering the United States during the Islamic Revolution’s Iranian hostage crisis. In November of that year, he gave all Iranian students in the United States one month to report to their local immigration office and, ultimately, thousands of Iranians were deported.
The act states that “whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”
Carter’s criterion was that, unless Iranian nationals were opposed to the Shiite Islamist regime or had a medical emergency, entry into the United States was verboten.
In fact, no less than six presidents, including Barack Obama, have acted on the authority granted by this law to exclude certain groups from entry into the United States. I do not recall Carter and Obama being represented by the mainstream media as jingoistic racists, so why is Trump being portrayed as such? Oh, I forgot for a moment, he’s a New Yorker given to bombast who rubs people the wrong way, but worse yet he’s a Republican.
Joseph Schachte
Logan Street
Charleston
http://www.postandcourier.com/20160915/160919644/letter-immigrant-ban
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Oakland Press
OPINON
09/15/16
Citizens will suffer with Clinton in White House
What if Hillary Clinton should win in November? You can expect a huge influx of migrants, immigrants, legal and illegal and others who do not plan to leave this country.
Welfare costs will skyrocket. To feed, house and take care of medical needs of thousands of migrants, legal and illegal.
Crime rates will increase with undesirables coming for free everything.
All welfare offices, etc. will be swamped with people looking for hand-outs.
The unemployment rate will jump as U.S. workers are laid off from their regular jobs to make room for the immigrants.
The legal U.S. citizen will suffer.
This is just the beginning. And the list goes on. Those of us who can pay will shoulder this huge expense.
I ask you, is this what we want for our future? If you do not like this, vote Republican.
Bruce Jacobsen
Lake Orion
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THE MORNING CALL
Border security lax under Obama
SEPTEMBER 14, 2016
Sometimes I wonder if some readers realize what biased reporting does to the average voter.
In a recent letter to the editor, the writer seems to not understand the idea of legal immigration. The immigration department requires immigrants to read, write and speak English.
What does this mean to average citizens? How do you feel about "press one for English," and the millions of dollars it costs to print your bills in several languages? Why do we need several languages for our driver's license test, at a cost of millions of tax dollars? What's next? Traffic signs in different languages? For all you environmentalists, think of how many trees we would save by printing everything in English only.
Newspapers should report the news, instead of making it up. A headline after Trump's visit to Mexico said it was a failure because Trump did not bring up the cost of building the wall. Trump is only a candidate. He can't tell Mexico's president who will pay for the wall.
The real question is why President Obama hasn't enforced border security. Why hasn't Hillary Clinton approached the Mexican president to voice her opinion on illegal border crossings? Is it because she wants more border crossings?
Press one for English.
Frederick Klem
Allentown
http://www.mcall.com/opinion/letters/mc-legal-immigration-trump-clinton-klem-20160914-story.html
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New Haven Register
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
What is the acceptable number?
09/14/16
The New Haven Register editorial “10,000 is not enough” (Sept. 5) makes me think. As an engineer I like to apply logic to problem solving. With the proposed influx of immigrants from countries with active terrorist movements and our inability to vet large numbers of undocumented, there will certainly be some terrorists that get through the system and into our country. (Isis has told us so.)
o my mind asks the question: “What is the acceptable number?” Is it 10, 50, more? Logic says there will be some, and the best minds in government agree, so I would ask those endorsing large resettlement programs to give us the number of terrorists that they feel would be acceptable?
In the many radically inspired terrorist acts we have seen there is an average number of deaths per event. For example, 9/11 with 3,000 deaths and 19 terrorists, the average was about 160 per terrorist. Orlando had 49 by one. San Bernardino, 14 killed by two, for an average of seven. Ft. Hood, 13 by one. Nice, France, had 84 by one. So, overall, there would be an average number which might be 30 or more deaths per event.
If we take the acceptable number of terrorists times the average number of casualties per act, the result is the number of dead that supporters of high numbers of immigrants from countries riddled with Isis and al-Qaida will find acceptable. Your example of the influx of Vietnamese and Cubans is out of place since it was a time before terrorism, as we know it, existed. I would really like to have these numbers studied by those actively promoting the resettlement. Hillary, since you have favored accepting 600,000 in your first term, what, in your mind, is the acceptable number of terrorists and casualties?
Just give us the numbers!
EEd Cowern
North Haven
http://www.nhregister.com/opinion/20160914/letter-to-the-editor-what-is-the-acceptable-number
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The Columbus Dispatch
Letter: Immigration woes felt here
September 14, 2016
In college, I was required to read “How to Lie with Statistics,” published in 1954. It immediately came to mind in reading the WKSU article “Immigration has traction, but why here?” in Monday’s Dispatch.
I am not suggesting lies in this instance, but the sample study, the tabulation method, the interview technique, and the way the results are derived from the figures are used to fulfill rather than to inform on the facts.
The U.S. census is the only source listed. How many illegal immigrants would respond? As with other situations in their daily lives, they tend to live in the shadows in a cash economy. It is possible that the greatest numbers in central Ohio are Asian and African, but for the most part they came here legally.
By the writer’s own admission “when counting unauthorized immigrants, Latin America moves up to a strong No. 1.” These individuals tend to come here over the southern border.
Reanne Frank, a demographer at Ohio State University, said that immigrants have little to do with any of these communities’ issues, but the article skimmed over the fact that this is a national issue, and what affects other areas has a negative effect on the entire country, including our area.
To me, this explains the traction.
George Fleshman
Westerville
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Portland Press Herald
September 14, 2016
Letter to the editor: Politicians should focus on citizens, not immigration
I am weary of the “everything immigration” headlines.
Our presidential candidates’ platforms should address how they are going to make sure that all American citizens are going to be taken care of.
Our political leaders need to make the well-being of their constituents their focus.
All American citizens need to work together to make sure that we are all able to participate in the American dream.
All American citizens deserve to have some form of government-provided health insurance.
All American citizens deserve to earn a decent living wage for the work they do.
All American citizens deserve to have access to an affordable college education.
All American citizens need to make sure their senior citizens, veterans and the disabled are well taken care of. An annual, sensible benefit raise would make a difference.
We all need to work together to make sure these needs are met. Maybe then we will not feel like second-class citizens in our own country that we love.
Brenda Pooler
Portland
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/09/14/politicians-should-focus-on-citizens-not-immigrants/
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THE DAILY NEWS
tdn.com
Letters: Legal citizens first
September 14, 2016
Legal citizens first
I’m curious as to the amount of federal dollars, if any, Cowlitz County received for becoming a sanctuary county. Shouldn’t an issue such as this be run by the residents of the county? I don’t recall a vote on the decision or even being notified that we are now a sanctuary county, a safe haven for criminals. It boggles the mind how such havens exists in America. To defy federal law and treat illegal aliens in a manner that Americans aren’t, is outrageous. Part of being a sanctuary county is to release illegal aliens that commit other crimes before ICE has a chance to deport them. The arresting agency will not hold them for the feds. The murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by an illegal is a good example. He had been arrested and deported five times thanks to a sanctuary city. It’s time for the citizens (legal) of America to come first, way past time.
From the basket of the Deplorables,
Steve Moline
Castle Rock
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THE MORNING CALL
Terrorists, drug dealers fear Trump
SEPTEMBER 13, 2016, 6:27 PM
Remember 9/11? Then how can you possibly even consider a candidate, any candidate, that would even consider allowing tens if not hundreds of thousands of un-vetted Muslims, Syrians and Mexicans into our country? This is not paranoia or fear-mongering. ISIS has announced that it will infiltrate the Syrian refugees with their terrorist bombers. Still feel like rolling the dice with Hillary Clinton?
It could be you or your kids, friends or relatives who get blown up at the next bombing. Think about that seriously before you vote.
Donald Trump scares the hell out of terrorists and drug dealers who depend on lax borders and lax immigration laws and corrupt politicians.
Trump (the outsider) is being portrayed very negatively by the mainstream media but he wants to build a wall (no matter who pays for it); halt all illegal immigration until we can figure out who's who with proper documentation; double the number of border patrols and give them the power to do what they were hired to do; make our country strong again by building up our decimated military.
Let's all truly remember 9/11 like it was yesterday and do the right thing on Nov. 8.
Tom Heigl
Allentown
http://www.mcall.com/opinion/letters/mc-trump-immigration-statements-heigl-20160913-story.html
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GrandRapidsMN.com
HeraldReview
DANGERS OF CULTURAL IMMIGRATION
September 13, 2016
Immigration has given us a rich and diverse culture. Previous immigrants came to assimilate into the American culture and way of life adding their culture and traditions to the rich tapestry of the American culture. They came to offer their talents, labor and efforts to their adopted country. They came to offer their allegiance to one country, one flag, one constitution and one way our way of life.
However, not all immigrants are alike. There is a current group of immigrants that choose not to assimilate; they do not embrace our constitution, do not tolerate other religious beliefs, and regard women and LGBT as second-class citizens.
Freedom of speech and religion become at risk. This group arrives seeking humanitarian tolerance. They portray themselves as peaceful and victims of misunderstanding. As their numbers grow, they seek to criminalize free speech that might be critical, and threaten legal action for perceived discrimination. They begin to demand accommodation from their host country. They pursue consolidation of power in government, schools and courts.
As they gain influence and power, they begin to intimidate citizens to create fear and submission. They begin intentional efforts to undermine democratic government and culture. They reject and defy the host country’s secular law. They destroy churches and synagogues and establish their “one true religion”.
Do the research; get the facts. For the sake of equal rights and freedom, become informed on both sides of “diversity”.
John Nelson
Bill Mager
Lance Huebscher
Ken Haubrich
Grand Rapids & Cohasset
