What Reagan had to say
Listen to the words of Ronald Reagan at the end of his presidency. “We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people, our strength, from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so, we continually renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams, we create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow. Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we are a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas and always on the cutting edge. Always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever close the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”
It’s time for Gov. Greg Abbott to give his mean-spirited fearmongering a rest.
Garry Potts, Highland Park
Boosting our national gene pool
Arrival of new immigrants throughout the years has had a positive impact on our economy and our cultural life. Most of us are sons and daughters of immigrants, which has enriched our culture and should have given us empathy for the plight of others.
Throughout history, this influx triggered by conditions at home has driven people to leave and seek a better life in America. Anti-immigration views are not new, as some have opposed this wave of people throughout our history. Those opposed seem to want to characterize the current wave as low-life individuals when most are anything but. They at least have guts and courage to risk the perilous journey with their families in search of a better life.
It would seem we would want those characteristics in our gene pool. After each new wave of immigrants was integrated, we experienced a new round of prosperity in part driven by these very same immigrants that are detested now.
Admittedly there is chaos at the southern border due to this issue being used as political leverage. However, those not willing to help are on the wrong side of history.
Milton Bruce Neher, Richardson
Don’t wait on politicians
When immigrants come to the United States to work, people accuse them of taking our jobs. When immigrants want to work but legally cannot because they are undocumented, they get smeared as lazy freeloaders. Immigrants can’t catch a break!
The only people who benefit from a large unauthorized labor force are business owners, who can exploit undocumented immigrants without regard for labor laws. If immigrants were fully protected and didn’t have the looming threat of deportation, they couldn’t be coerced into accepting lower wages.
The solution knocks out several birds with one stone: national reindustrialization. Tons of high-paying blue-collar jobs: check. Productive positions for eager immigrants: check. Less reliance on China: check. Becoming the uncontested global leader in the green industry: check. So many benefits!
But do we have the political will? Not if we wait on politicians. We must demand it!
Thomas Urech, Richardson
The facts say otherwise
While the rising number of immigrant apprehensions at the U.S. border with Mexico has sowed political division and in some cases xenophobia, there’s one place where almost everyone seems on the same positive page: Wall Street. Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office calculated that immigration will generate a $7 trillion boost to the U.S. gross domestic product over the next decade.
“Immigration is not just a highly charged social and political issue, it is also a big macroeconomic one,” said Janet Henry, a global economist. She also said that no advanced economy is benefiting from immigration quite like the U.S., and “the impact of migration has been an important part of the U.S. growth story over the past two years.”
When someone tries to fearmonger about how immigrants are stealing American jobs and ruining our economy, try countering this pernicious myth with actual facts.
Ken Derow, Swarthmore, Pa.
Politicians punt to police, courts
Re: “García making plans for new law — Chief says he’s working out how to enforce Senate Bill 4 amid confusion among the community,” Sunday Metro story.
Seeing all the back-and-forth grandstanding on Senate Bill 4, I’m reminded of former Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s remarks in 2016, “We’re asking cops to do too much in this country.” He also said, “Every societal failure, we put it off on cops to solve.”
Some of those issues he was referring to included school failures, loss of mental health services and family breakdowns. “Policing was never meant to solve all those problems,” Brown said.
Here we go again. Our politicians can’t get together to figure out what to do, so just punt the problem to the already overworked police and clogged judicial system. We already know how this is going to end up!
James C. Francis, Carrollton
Not incompetent at all
Re: “Even Texas is Fuzzy on SB 4 Procedures — State should have border role, but not this law,” March 22 editorial.
In this editorial on Senate Bill 4, you wrote, “Yet the more Texas is forced to explain how SB 4 would work, the more apparent it becomes that its authors didn’t know what they were doing.”
The idea that the Texas Senate is incompetent runs counter to its history. The Texas Senate did not find Ken Paxton innocent in its impeachment “trial” because of its incompetence. The Senate found Paxton innocent because of politics.
Likewise the Senate did not display incompetence when its constructed a way-too-vague law in SB 4. In SB 4, the Senate displayed its prowess as pure politicians.
Seriously, this is just another indication that Austin is all about politics. The Senate and “The Big Three” in Austin are very competent. They excel at serving those who fund their campaigns and pacifying the masses.
Kenneth Mathias, Grand Prairie
Sending a message
Re: “Leaders absent on immigration,” by Jodi Slabaugh, March 23 Letters.
This letter seems to blame our Texas government for this massive border incursion since Joe Biden became president. All readers of this newspaper should understand that our much-criticized Texas government’s actions at the border are solely a reaction to our federal government’s failure to enforce its very laws against illegal immigration.
What do our Texas citizens expect? Should we allow Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to continue abdicating their responsibility for enforcing our southern border? Or should we do something about it?
Well, Gov. Greg Abbott has responded to millions of our Texas citizens’ call for help with this overwhelming intrusion of our state by placing barriers along the Rio Grande and asking our state Legislature to enable our own police to enforce this law.
This law, while difficult to enforce, at least sends a message to our federal government of what they should do. Unfortunately, the reaction is to sue us for trying to do its job!
Don Pearce, Dallas/Lake Highlands
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