Immigrants come to work

Why would anyone make a difficult and dangerous journey to the U.S. to work at a menial job, and then commit a crime that could lead to jail and deportation? This would deprive his family of income they need to survive.

In arguing for repeal of Oregon’s “sanctuary law” (Bulletin, June 7), Richard F. LaMountain paints unauthorized workers as criminals. But citizens commit crimes at a higher rate than undocumented immigrants, report researchers in the article, “Studies explore immigrant crime” (Bulletin, June 20).

LaMountain says 6.5 percent of state prison inmates are undocumented. This figure represents inmates with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer and may include permanent residents. The State Department of Corrections does not count inmates by immigration status, said spokeswoman Jennifer Black.

LaMountain and Oregonians for Immigration Reform want to place a repeal of ORS 181A.820 on the ballot in November. The 1987 law bars Oregon law enforcement from apprehending foreign citizens who only violate federal immigration laws. But officers can call ICE to verify the status of a person they arrest for a criminal offense. The law encourages all residents to cooperate with local law enforcement.

If we repeal the law and begin turning our immigrant neighbors over to ICE, your carpenter, landscaper, housekeeper and cook will live in fear. Crops destined for our tables may rot in the fields. Perhaps the immigrant parents of your child’s citizen classmate will disappear, leaving that child in foster care. Is this the kind of Oregon we want?

Denise Holley

Redmond

Is concern about immigration racist?

I read an article in the New York Times recently that talked about whether or not immigration and racism are related. According to the article, a huge majority of Democrats believe that people who want to curb immigration are racist.

At the same time, a huge majority of Republicans do not think this way at all. They do not see themselves as racist just because they want to slow down immigration from Mexico and Central America. Conservatives care deeply about the effects of immigration and resent being told that their beliefs and votes are racist.

White House political strategists have said that President Trump and his followers benefit when Democrats call them racists because this accusation causes anger and resentment. That’s why Trump is happy to say that migrants “infest” and “invade our country.” His rhetoric is meant to intensify the anti-immigrant views of his supporters, and to encourage Democrats to accuse him and his supporters of bigotry.

Democrats need to accept the importance of Republicans’ concerns around immigration and argue for letting new people into our country based on humanitarian and national interest grounds. After all, some immigrants are leaving their own countries because of hunger and death threats, and our country needs people willing to help harvest our crops and take on other jobs we no longer want to do.

Paula Surmann

Sisters

Vote in November

My husband and I are pretty fortunate. We were born to parents who loved us and brought us up in environments that gave us every opportunity to live the lives that we chose. But we didn’t pick our parents or where we were born — those were circumstances beyond our control. We had nothing to do with it.

I think about the mothers and fathers at the southern border who, coming from desperate circumstances, seek to improve their lives by entering this country illegally. I think about their frightened children, taken from them and detained in cages as pawns in a sick political game. And I think about the people who got trapped into lives as gang members and victims of human trafficking.

First and foremost we all share our common humanity. We all start out the same, helpless babies who didn’t ask to be here, all of us needing love and care to survive. But life isn’t fair, and due to circumstances beyond our control lives take different paths. Such circumstances as where we’re born, who our parents are, and environments that either foster growth or prevent it. And when I think about the victims of our broken immigration system I can’t help but think to myself, “there but for the grace of God, go I.”

It’s a midterm year. All of us who have empathy need to remember to vote in November.

Pam Berreyesa

Bend