“Illegals” have faces. This is what Republicans are learning to their chagrin amid mounting international outrage over the new policy of separating immigrant children from their families at our southern border. For years, the party has pretended otherwise. It has denied undocumented immigrants their personhood, casting them instead as an abstract threat — rape! gangs! […]
immigration policy
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Those are real children
I wonder how many people remember going to the old Disney movie “Dumbo”? I remember when Dumbo’s mother was taken away from him. I cried like a baby. I remember that a lot of other people did, too. It was like we were going through the same thing — the heart-wrenching loss of a child […]
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Posted inLetters, sj-web
Immigration policy is cruel
To separate a child from her mother by force, when all she has done is cross the border seeking help, is an act with grave moral consequence. To make a policy to do this, in order to discourage migration, is beneath the United States and unworthy of its leaders. Such action cannot be made humane […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
'Give me your tired, your poor …'
I did not vote for the current president, and I am looking forward to ending his presidency in 2020. That said, I do feel that the current citizens of the greatest country in this world — the United States of America — need to examine and revise, if necessary, the nation’s immigration policies and procedures. […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Lockman needs to show evidence
I thank Sen. Roger Katz (letter, Feb. 25) for pointing out the importance of more state support for English language education for new Mainers. He rightly reminds people how much everyone in the state depends on their ability to learn how to live here and contribute to local communities and economy. He also rightly notes […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Welcome hard-working people
Rep. Larry Lockman is something. Where others see light and opportunity, he sees only darkness and conspiracy. Exhibit A: his guest column in the Sun Journal (Feb. 18) in which he accuses me (and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins) of waging a “war on whites” by “pushing race-based identity politics in Maine.” He further suggests that […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Emphasize the humanity
Recently, President Donald Trump and others have used “chain migration” to refer to immigrants’ ability to unite their families. Such changes in language have the effect of objectifying people and reducing empathy for them, and are usually used in conjunction with the promotion of policies that harm them. It is easier to vote to break […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Expanding awareness
Immigrants can be a plus. I married one and from my experience and with friends who have also married an immigrant, life becomes a lifelong learning adventure. Having different backgrounds, different ways of doing things and seeing things enhances one’s perspectives. Awareness expands and, therefore, our behaviors modify. I believe that too many Americans have […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Trump: Look at what is happening in Sweden
As if on cue, riots broke out in a heavily immigrant suburb of Stockholm as soon as the media mocked President Donald Trump for a vague warning about immigration-related problems in Sweden. At a campaign rally over the weekend, Trump issued forth with a mystifyingly ominous statement. “You look,” he declared, “at what’s happening last […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Need a different immigration debate
WASHINGTON — The conversation — or argument — we’ve been having on immigration has been remarkably skewed. It’s been all about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, otherwise known as the “undocumented.” Actually, what counts far more are the estimated 31 million immigrants who are here legally and the roughly 1 million who gain legal […]