Most Americans are the descendants of immigrants. Many families proudly describe the ancestors who came here with nothing, working menial jobs so their children could have better lives.

In Maine in recent years, immigrants (often highly educated) have been doing the foundational work of caring, cleaning, picking and packing that keeps our society functioning. We need workers and we need the young families who rejuvenate our aging state. And we need a humane and orderly system to admit such people.

If President Trump’s immigration policies were about humaneness and orderliness, I might support them. But they are not. People were reported to have been arrested or abruptly denied entry include American citizens caught up in raids in New Jersey, fully-vetted Afghans who helped the American forces there and are targeted by the Taliban, and people in Mexico and Central America who made legal appointments online to go the the border and request asylum.

None of these are undocumented or convicted criminals. All deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and humanity.

Unfortunately, Trump’s campaign is more about terrorizing immigrant communities than about actually fixing the immigration system. Just as horribly, it whips up popular hate and fear of communities who are “different” from more established ones, and makes space for vigilante acts of violence. It’s the profoundly lazy authoritarian way of projecting “strength.”

We shouldn’t fall for this hateful laziness. Basic decency demands that we reject Trump’s brutal and dehumanizing anti-immigrant program. Our grandparents and great-grandparents deserve that from us.

Mary Hunter, Lewiston

Related Headlines

Join the Conversation

Please sign into your Sun Journal account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.