Letter to the Editor: Protect our culture
Trending
I'm compelled to respond to the News and Sentinel editorial of Oct. 17, headlined "Shameful: DeSantis makes appeal to hatred and fear." This is beyond frightfully naïve; it's dangerous. Ron DeSantis is 100% correct.
For too long the left has used epithets to silence opposition: racist, "MAGA extremist," homophobe, etc. In this view, the editorial implies if we dare to agree with Gov. DeSantis, we're hateful and devoid of compassion. I'm tired of this! I'm tired of common sense being called hate today.
In 2006, Palestinians elected Hamas over Fatah to govern. Fatah was far more compromise-driven toward Israel. Hamas backs a terrorist organization devoted to the destruction of Israel. Palestinians CHOSE Hamas. Palestinian children are steeped in antisemitism, even in school, as were German children under Nazi rule.
A 2014 Gaza survey determined that 93% of Gaza and West Bank residents were antisemitic. True, survey details aren't available and it's almost ten years old, but common sense dictates not much has changed, given the indoctrination and Hamas support.
The left casts a blind eye even to our southern border, wide open since Biden was placed in the Oval Office. This policy reversal from the previous administration, a reversal which completely flouts our laws and the presidential oath of office, has allowed almost 4 million illegals to walk in to America. Nearly half have snuck in, not even bothering to find a border agent.
All of these illegals are roaming the country largely unvetted as to background and health with U.S. taxpayers often footing the bill for their little adventure. They are draining billions from our budgets. They are overwhelming our health care system and education system. They have few skills, do not speak English and have little to no intention of assimilating.
In the past two weeks, border agents have encountered illegals from Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan Syria and 2,000 from China alone. These are the known illegals. This is beyond lunatic, it is suicidal.
Now, apparently, we're supposed to welcome Palestinian refugees into the U.S. when their own neighboring Arab nations refuse to take them. We're supposed to trust the Biden administration to vet these people in spite of the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle. Biden swore these people were vetted -- 75,000 to 90,000 Afghans -- yet a CBS News report (hardly a conservative outlet) stated the DHS lacked "critical data to properly screen, vet and inspect" these evacuees. Because of this, and the lack of standardized vetting process, "the DHS may have admitted or paroled individuals ... who posed risk to national security and safety of local communities." This news report was from September 2022.
The final insult is the proclivity to whip out the Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty quote. The irony of this, aside from the fact that it didn't ever apply to illegals and unvetted persons, is that Lazarus was Jewish and an activist particularly for aid to refugees coming to New York, having fled pogroms in eastern Europe. The Statue of Liberty inspired her poem "The New Colossus" in empathy with those refugees. She didn't write "Give me your tired, your poor, your millions of unvetted and/or illegals yearning for everything free."
We've always welcomed legal immigrants. My grandparents came through Ellis Island. They were screened, health checked, became citizens, assimilated, learned English and fared very well here, CONTRIBUTING POSITIVELY to the U.S.
Immigration is not a right, it is a privilege accorded to those who follow the rules and are deemed to enhance our culture, not help destroy it. No borderless nation can survive. The current policy is treasonous and we have Democrats to thank for it and for the cultural implosion they have long pushed.
DeSantis is right. No Palestinian refugees. We have always been compassionate, but national security trumps compassion. Common sense trumps lunacy.
Katherine Leisering
Parkersburg