Newsday letters to the editor for Tuesday, June 19, 2018
An undated photo from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol shows people inside a processing center in McAllen, Texas. Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Patrol/EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock
Two sides of family- separation debate
Every day, American children are separated from their parents. It happens when the parents are arrested and/or convicted and sent to jail.
Should these prisoners be released just because they have children? If parents don’t want to be separated from their families this way, they shouldn’t do the crime.
It’s the same lesson for those parents who break our immigration law [“Focus shifts to immigration bill,” News, June 16].
As to refugee status, when a country out of kindness takes in those in distress due to natural disaster, etc., there’s always a temporary status. These refugees know it from day one. A house guest isn’t a permanent family member. Get real!
Jo-Ann Nowodzinski, Jericho
We are witnessing children being wrenched away from their mothers (even nursing mothers) at a rate of about 47 a day. They’re placed in holding facilities where those in charge are told they cannot touch even the toddlers and the children cannot contact their families.
Studies of some who have committed multiple killings at schools and churches show there was a commonality with early trauma or family separation. How will these traumatized children be affected? How many will become future threats?
How can we just sit by and not call out President Donald Trump when he says the law he inherited from Democrats forces him to do this? I do not recall any such pictures when President Barack Obama was in office. Trump could stop his policy with a snap of his finger. He is using his lies to get his wall built.
Clare Worthing, Wantagh
After World War II, many Nazi soldiers and guards were asked why they participated in the horrible acts they participated in. The answers were often, “I was just following orders.”
My questions for the U.S. border guards separating children from their families are the same: “Why are you doing what you are doing? What is your answer?”
Stewart J. Frimer, Forest Hills
Common sense can stop the problem of family separations immediately. First, don’t cross the border illegally. Second, many approaching our Southern border seek asylum because of terror, mistreatment or whatever from their home countries. Since Mexico is the country they travel through, why do they not seek asylum there? Then they could apply for legal entry to the United States.
Larry Rugen, Massapequa
