Letters page
Welcome to the OFIR Letters and Op-Eds section. Here you can read Letters to the Editor and Op-Eds that have been published in various newspapers and news sources.
I am in total agreement with Elizabeth Van Staaveren’s Dec. 2 letter regarding Michael Davis’ Nov. 27 commentary.
His childish, disparaging remarks about Donald Trump are totally insulting and disgraceful. I will never read his commentary again.
I believe a newspaper should be nonpartisan and just report the facts and let the readers form their own opinions. However, it is obvious that the Statesman Journal is totally Democratic.
I am a proud Republican and resent being demonized continually. I am a subscriber and deserve to be respected as such.
Donald Trump will repair all the damage done by Obama (immediately) and will “Make America great again!”
As outrageous as you may consider Donald Trump’s comments regarding restrictions on Muslim immigration, there are historic precedents.
From 1924 into 1965, all legal immigration was greatly reduced or totally suspended based upon national-origin criteria. This was done to allow for full assimilation of the large influx of immigrants following World War I.
In 1952, the Immigration and Nationality Act (the McCarran-Walter Act) basically gave the president the authority, by presidential proclamation, to suspend entry of any class of alien for any period.
In November 1979, President Carter used this I.N.A. to deport some 15,000 Iranians.
All of the above, and much more, was based on the idea of providing protection and security for the legal citizens of this country — the No. 1 role of our government.
I read with interest and concern the comments of our legislators and some law academics concerning the possible illegalities of Donald Trump’s suggestion of halting Islamic immigrants.
That they all think that the president cannot make such a sweeping proclamation shows that they don’t know existing law.
The thing that Trump suggests is not only already law; it already has been used. By a Democrat!
The law is 8 United States Code (USC) 1182, suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by president.
It was enacted in 1952, passed by a Democrat-controlled Congress and signed into law by a Democratic -president (Truman).
In 1952 there was no immigration happening. All immigration (except asylum/refugees) was shut down from 1924 to 1965.
Why was 8 USC 1182 needed? Rampant illegal immigration (as we see happening today).
Trump and Muslims: I fail to understand how all the political factions, including the media, can call Donald Trump all kinds of names for his stand on allowing aliens into the United States when it is already the law of the land and was used by Jimmy Carter to keep Iranians out of the country. (Carter did even more. He made all Iranian students already here check in, and he deported a lot of them.)
Title 8 of the U.S. Code (subsection 1182 — Inadmissible Aliens), written in 1952, passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress and signed by a Democratic president, reads as follows:
"Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by President: 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 nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."
I wonder if Obama knows he has this power, especially when he seems so eager to create powers for himself. What is he waiting for? We have a terrorist crisis that is far worse than the hostage crisis was in 1979.
Trump and Muslims: Judging from the reaction of the uber-tolerant, Donald Trump may be on to something here.
It is amazing how imbedded political correctness has become in our culture. What was once the religion of the elites has now become widespread. Mr Trump's candor is like a breath of fresh air.
To those "enlightened" souls who can't stand him, perhaps a history lesson is due. Why did Abraham Lincoln suspend the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War? Because, in words that are often attributed to Lincoln, the Constitution is not a suicide pact. Saving the union was a higher priority. During World War II, Japanese citizens were sent to internment camps by liberal hero Franklin Roosevelt. More recently, 15,000 Iranian students were deported President Jimmy Carter.
I will hazard a broader interpretation of Donald Trump's remarks: We need to get control of our borders now. We need to deal with homegrown terrorism now. This way we can avoid taking the extreme actions of past presidents.
During the Korean war, North Korean and Chinese military took advantage of the plight of thousands of tragic war refugees. As hordes of humanity fled combat to the relative safety of U.S. checkpoints, enemy infiltrators, disguised as war refugees, got behind U.S. lines. The hostile invaders even forced the refugees at gunpoint to be complicit with these lethal and surreptitious incursions. Predictably, once inside U.S.-held areas, these enemy infiltrators engaged in sabotage and the killing of U.S. military personnel, unarmed civilians, including even the innocent and “honest” refugees who had served as their cover and shield.
As this type of invasive threat became increasingly frequent and deadly, U.S. forces were forced to open fire on refugees rather than risk the potentially devastating harm hidden within their piteous ranks.
The federal government is now considering the poorly thought out — although well-intended — plan of bringing ostensible Syrian refugees (almost all of whom are Muslim) to America. There is simply no way for the government to sort the genuine, hapless and hurting Syrian refugee from the evil minions of terror hidden among the would-be immigrants.
Should President Obama permit the import of such undisclosed, and undiscoverable, agents of terror into America, it will only be a matter of time before mass shootings, car bombings, improvised explosive devices and other acts of terror will become the wretched fruit of such misguided benevolence. Terrorist acts like those perpetrated in San Bernardino will become commonplace.
President Obama vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in part because of a passage concerning detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The NDAA also provided funding to battle the Islamic State. Future funding for these operations will be stalled until Obama decides to approve the legislation; yet he plans on spending billions to bring Muslims here.
I suppose we Americans can set up no-go zones for the proposed Syrian Muslims as they did in France where Muslim-dominated neighborhoods were largely off limits to non-Muslims. How has that worked for the French?
President Obama said his attendance at the global climate change summit would serve as a “powerful rebuke” to ISIS for terrorist attacks in Paris. Hot air rebuke? Why is our president so harsh?
As he and our un-elected governor welcome these un-vettable people past our defenses and into the bosom of our republic.
Literally, for Christ's sake, Barack Obama, where in hell are you taking us? Did I hear you say there is nothing to fear nor any reason to deep-check the thousands of aliens seeking our shores for asylum from Africa?
You don't think that terrorists, be they ISIS or whatever, will also come along with the infiltration?
What about the thugs, druggies and other illegal miscreants who have already sneaked across our border hidden among the many who came in legitimately seeking a new life?
Nothing to fear under your watch, huh, Barry?
Recently a couple from Los Angeles was having breakfast while talking to the proprietor of the restaurant. Their daughter attended Oregon State and they came up for the UCLA game.
The gentleman was wearing a Los Angeles Fire Department emblazoned sweatshirt. When asked if he was a fireman, his wife confidentially responded, "No, I work for the Fire Department, he is a Los Angeles policeman. It's dangerous nowadays to let people know you are a cop."
He didn't wear his LAPD identifying shirt because of the present attitude toward police officers! This has to be demoralizing to all our police protectors, when they should be treated with honor and respect.
My faith, my heritage, my land tell me all American lives matter. God bless those who protect us and, as needed, chastise us when we disrupt our more civilized decorum.
So, I guess we have to go on fearing the arbitrary dictates meted out by President Obama,
In the wake of the November attacks in Paris, there is elevated concern that terrorists connected with ISIS will use the mass movement of refugees and economic migrants in the world to gain access to the United States. A recent ABC News Poll taken Nov. 16-18, says 54 percent of Americans oppose taking in refugees even after they have been screened by security.
President Obama is expanding an overly generous admission program up to 10,000 Syrian refugees with 45,000 worldwide refugees over the next two years. Oregon Governor Kate Brown says the state will take in Syrian refugees. Once settled, refugees are given expedited access to legal permanent residency and are put on a fast track to citizenship, which they can seek after four years.
Difficult vetting procedures: It is especially difficult to vet refugees from war-torn areas where there has been a complete breakdown of government control and authority. Problems often begin with name identification, which is necessary to establish past history and whether they have been imprisoned or affiliated with an insurgency. Due to this lack of documentation and inability to conduct name identification, FBI director James Comey noted in his testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security, “if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but there will be nothing show up because we have no record of them.”
Radicalization: In addition to the threat of radicals slipping through gaps in the system, there is also a threat of radicalization once refugees are present in the United States. According to a November 2014 report by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, 13 percent of Syrian refugees have a view of ISIS that is at least “positive to some extent,” with 4 percent having a “positive” view. Given ISIS’ history of effective propagandizing via social media, it is likely that they will be able to capitalize on some of these predilections.
Congressional action: Congress should move forward a policy with a thorough and transparent vetting process. The December 11 appropriations deadline provides an opportunity for Congress to use a legislative rider defunding the president’s expansion, after which Congress will work with security experts to pass legislation establishing a screening process and mechanism for lawmakers to affirm the administration is implementing the new process correctly.
I thought at first that Michael Davis was writing a parody of the various criticisms of Donald Trump in his Nov. 27 commentary. I was shocked to realize he was serious.
Such a rant disqualifies a person to be the editor of a newspaper in my opinion.
Trump is the presidential candidate who best understands the gravity of the immigration situation and what to do about it. Excessive legal and illegal immigration over recent decades has hurt this nation.
Donald Trump would enforce immigration laws and put U.S. citizens’ interests first. That’s why he’s fast gaining support.
It’s impossible to know the background and intentions of Syrian refugees or even whether they are Syrians, and those who claim otherwise are contradicted by the FBI and other security experts.
The U.S. can help maintain safe areas under U.N. care in the Middle East for Syrian refugees, and that is the more sensible course to take.
With 58.6 million immigrants with their children already living in the U.S. and another migrant added to the population every 32 seconds, we are on automatic pilot for unsustainable population growth unless Congress reduces immigration levels.
