Rep. Shields’ June 14 letter was disturbing on several counts. He insults the patriotism of Democrats in Augusta and throughout Maine who were distressed by L.D. 1079, which would have required any individual associated with an organization receiving state funds to report to Homeland Security or Immigration Services anyone suspected of being an undocumented illegal alien.

Overlooking Shields’ contention that valuing the education or medical care of all children is unpatriotic, his lack of concern with the wide range of individuals who would have been required to report anyone at all believed, without requirement of proof, to be an undocumented alien is troubling.

Believed to be.

Suspected of being.

While on the face of it the bill might have seemed reasonable, the Republican party in Augusta readily moves onto the slippery slope of McCarthyism. People, Democrats, immigrants, people who look different, who speak oddly, become “under suspicion.” Must be reported. If you suspect, you must report.

Suspect.

What’s next? Big Brother? Everyone required to report anyone suspicious? Sound familiar? Nazi Germany? The old Communist states?

True, Immigration Services should be reformed so that eligibility for citizenship is supported, clarified and expedited. Many of us have grandparents who were immigrants, and going back a bit, all but a few of us have immigrant roots. Immigrants built this country.

But it is telling that Rep. Shields feels the need to sell his point through the shabby appeal of fear, trying to connect his diatribe to Sept. 11. Huh? Fear your neighbor anyone?

Jim Cogan, Auburn

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