Don’t ignore the legal/illegal distinction

Reading your editorial in this week’s edition, I had to shake my head. You imply that President Trump is anti-immigration, that he “loathes immigrants,” that he’s a racist.

The truth is that Trump is not against immigration and immigrants. He is against illegals sneaking into our country and committing crimes. When he states that some people here illegally are murdering, robbing, raping, bringing drugs, etc. he is not stating that every illegal is guilty of doing these things in our country, but of course the media changes it to every and all. Just Google the statistics of the crimes that have been committed by people here illegally. Some cases have been high profile, like the murder of Kate Steinle, while thousands more get no coverage by the media because crimes committed against American citizens by people here illegally doesn’t fit their agenda.

My grandparents came here legally, through Ellis Island, like millions of other immigrants. They learned English, they worked hard, they became legal citizens of our country, just like the newly sworn-in 25 immigrants mentioned in the editorial. They came to our country the right way, the legal way. While millions of others come into our country illegally, those 25 people had waited in line, paid the required fees and are now proud legal citizens of our country. By the way, is it fair to these people that they did it the right way while millions don’t and get to stay here?

This is all that voters like me ask: that if you want to come and live in our country, you do it the legal way. Like Trump, millions of us are not against immigrants. We welcome people who want to come here and live the American Dream. We are a nation of laws (supposed to be!) but with “sanctuary cities” protecting people here illegally, there has been a breakdown of law enforcement and criminals are being released back into our society. This is not right.

Come to America legally or not at all. There is nothing racist about those eight words.

Denise Connolly
Smallwood, NY

Costs of the IDA casino agreement

How can Sullivan County Government maintain an adequate workforce whose wages decrease over time? The answer is, of course, it can’t. Merely keeping pace with inflation required wages to rise by more than 9% since 2011. Yet for rank-and-file workers, that increase is reported to be just 4%.

Our county manager is correct about the tough position we face balancing that wage gap with revenue uncertainty from Resorts World Catskills casino—with underwhelming results from Rivers and Del Lago, who could fault his concern? But it’s also correct to remember that county leaders, along with those from the Town of Thompson and Monticello School District, signed off on generous public tax abatements for Resorts World, courtesy of our Industrial Development Agency, in full view of ample evidence advising caution. And let’s also remember that some on our county legislature stumped for reelection by promoting their intention to renegotiate that IDA agreement. With the recent rejection of the Monticello School District’s capital plan, for the kid’s sake, let’s hope they follow through. In the meantime, it remains to be seen whether Resorts World will attain a level of success justifying those tax breaks. Either way, wagering our county government’s workforce on how the dice roll is just plain wrong.

Dave Colavito
Rock Hill, NY

Who’s ranting now?

This is a reply to your editorial on April 12 on, “A Nation of Immigrants.”

Your first paragraph starts out, “Plug the words “Trump and immigration” into a Google news search engine and you will find hundreds of news stories about President Trump’s latest rant about immigrants and immigration.” I feel it’s disrespectful that anything the President states, is declared a rant by you. I might think that your editorial is a rant just to make yourself feel better.

The only thing I found to be of value in your editorial was the fact that you mentioned that 25 immigrants received their U.S. citizenship in Monticello this week coming from four corners of the globe. I am also happy and congratulate them for their accomplishment and the time and effort they had to put in to become a U.S. citizen. You state that the President, “His loathing for immigrants is so deep—even though his parents were immigrants and so is his wife,” that he now leaves out the idea that the U.S. is a “ nation of immigrants.”

What your editorial leaves out is a couple of words you should have used in your Google Search besides Trump and immigrants. They would be “legal or illegal entry.” The abovementioned 25 immigrants that received citizenship, and Trump’s parents and wife all came here legally and put in the effort to become a citizen. They didn’t swim across a river, climb a wall or go across an unprotected border illegally.

So to conclude, when you use the word “immigrant” over and over again in an editorial you might want to use adjectives that better pinpoint which “immigrants” you mean.

Gary D. Maas
Cochecton, NY