Dear Editor,

For the elucidation of some authors of letters to the editor, there are two distinct kinds of immigrants — legal and illegal. Legal immigrants respect our country and its people enough to follow our legal immigration procedures. Illegal immigrants demonstrate contempt for us and think they are above the law. Harsh? Yes. Truthful? Absolutely!

Opposing illegal immigration is not opposing immigration; it’s supporting the law. Until President Trump entered office, virtually all leading Democrats — Obama, Biden, Schumer, Pelosi, etc. — took a firm stance against illegal immigration and recognized the dangerous situation on our southern border. From the inception of President Trump’s presidency, they have done everything in their power to undermine him. With respect to illegal immigration, this has meant a complete about-face. Until the very recent past, when it was no longer possible for any sane person to deny it, they, and virtually all of the other Democrats in lockstep, insisted that there was no crisis at the border except for a “manufactured crisis”(their words) created by President Trump. Consequently, the Democrats in Congress refused to take any actions to alleviate this “non-crisis”. Thus we see overcrowded conditions today.

The crisis is real, and it is exacerbated by pandering politicians who say everyone is welcome and we are cruel not to accept them. These politicians are demanding that we ignore the very laws many of them had a hand in writing. Some such as Nancy Pelosi are even providing information on how illegals can avoid the law. This is traitorous.

As for asylum seekers, there are two points to be made. First, there is a legal procedure for applying for asylum that involves using official points of entry to the U. S. Second, a significant majority of asylum seekers do not meet the standards for asylum. Greater economic opportunity is not justification for granting asylum.

It’s interesting to see how people react (or don’t react) to conditions depending on who is in office. President Obama’s administration deported more illegal than has President Trump’s during a comparable period., but I don’t recall the same letter writers complaining about it then. President Obama’s administration built the wire fences to hold illegal that were called “fences” during his administration but are now called “cages” during Trump’s. Democrats have even posted pictures of children held in these “cages” during Obama’s administration and used them to excoriate President Trump.

Then there is the charge of racism. Most illegal immigrants coming across our southern border are Hispanic. It shouldn’t even have to be stated, but for the record, “Hispanic” is not a race. There are brown Hispanics, black Hispanics, white Hispanics, and even a few Asian Hispanics.. The issue has nothing to do with race, nor should it.

As for “diversity”. It would be hard to find a more diverse nation than the United States, but diversity is a two-edged sword. Diversity strengthens a nation when all of its citizens are pledged to common ideals such as our Constitution.

This is what is implied by the motto “e pluribus unum”.Conversely, when society is fragmented into groups whose ideals are at odds with one another, diversity becomes a potentially fatal weakness. Vice President Al Gore was more prescient than he knew hen he said that “e pluribus unum” means “from one, many”. That seems to be the guiding philosophy of today’s Democratic Party with its identity politics.

A sovereign nation has every right to determine who lives within its borders. If it has no control over its borders, it is no longer a nation.

Yours truly,

Gary Widell,

Warren