Letters - Oct 2024

WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS WE WOULDN'T HAVE A LOT OF THINGS
I dearly wish someone in power would tell the truth about immigrants.
Yes, we need border policy. I'm not advocating open borders. I am asking people, especially business leaders and elected officials, to push back on the negative lies about immigrants and raise up the benefit of immigrants to our communities.
For a starter – do you like eating fruits, vegetables and meat? Because without immigrants, including lots of undocumented immigrants, we would not have basic food items in our stores. Farmworkers and meat processing workers are essential workers. This is grueling work, done almost completely by immigrants. When you visit mom or dad at their nursing home, who is caring for them? Chances are good that those caregivers are immigrants.
Right now, my neighbor is getting a new roof. Who is up there doing the hard work of restoring his home? Immigrants. I know because I just spoke to them. But I have also organized meetings of businesspeople with members of Congress, people who would not be in business were it not for their immigrant workforce. Restaurant owners, landscapers, health care organizations, hotel owners, roofers and farm owners all rely on immigrant labor.
Did you know that immigrants, even undocumented immigrants, pay taxes? There is a firewall between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security. Immigrant workers support programs for citizens from which they won't benefit, programs like healthcare and Social Security. And through their taxes, they ARE paying for the schools their children attend and our parks and roads.
So, don't believe the lies. Be grateful. Push back when you hear immigrants demonized. It's happening so that working people will be pitted against one another rather than fight together for what we need. We can do better.
Pamela Twiss
East Nokomis

RESONATING WITH DON HAMMEN
Responding to Donald L. Hammen’s article “On becoming an Octogenarian.” Losing my wife of an over 40-year marriage created a “Traumatic Life Experience” for me that I can relate to through Hammen’s article. It has also heightened my capacity for empathy. Could Mr. Hammen share with me what that trauma was that brought him to his knees.
Thank you,
Phillip Buccieri