Letter to the Editor – Steve Swoope

Dear Editor,

America to me means that WE THE PEOPLE stand up and say NO at the top of our voices to any administration (including & especially this one) acting against our Constitution, our laws and our values.

FOR EXAMPLE, America means we the people protest ICE’s cruel and unusually violent removal of any and all people who are not citizens, like Daca recipients, spouses of service members & veterans, and even OOPS citizens.  

America means we loudly reject the wholesale cancellation of Temporary Protective Status for Haitians (and now Venezuelans) displaced by massive earthquakes, choosing to return them to a failed state.  Haiti is too dangerous for us to visit, where they are likely to be exploited, unemployable, even murdered.  

America means we the people demand Homeland security stop spending billions of our tax dollars to buy abandoned warehouses and more billions to convert them into gulags to hold thousands of detainees.  

America means we the  people call out lies about these folks being vicious criminals.  

We’ve known so many of them for years as neighbors, taxpayers, consumers, & producers who contribute to our economy and the richness of our lives.  

We’ve known for years that many of them are here struggling through the jungle of paperwork and hurdles to obtain or renew their legal status of one kind or another, only to be snatched up when they make required court appearances to prove they ARE doing the right thing.  

America means we the people continue to demand that our imperfect immigration system be reformed and meanwhile, that laws be enforced by agencies that respect  the constitutional rights and human dignity of all.

Ask tough questions and demand answers from the people who are asking for your vote and from your current representatives .

Proud to be an American, one of we the people, E Pluribus Unum.