Letter to the Editor

Fear mongering from the right

By Ted Millar, Milton
Posted 5/23/23

There has been a lot of fear mongering lately over the buses of asylum seekers coming to the Hudson Valley from New York City, compliments of NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who has obviously frightened the …

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Letter to the Editor

Fear mongering from the right

Posted

There has been a lot of fear mongering lately over the buses of asylum seekers coming to the Hudson Valley from New York City, compliments of NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who has obviously frightened the vociferous right-wing propaganda.

Contrary to recent press, asylum seekers are not displacing unhoused American veterans from local motels. It’s not surprising some media are promulgating this salacious rumor. But it is a rumor nevertheless. Local media outlets published a story debunking that claim.

The men, women, and children coming here are not “illegals”. They are legally seeking asylum under current immigration laws.

Most people here illegally arrive on airplanes, cars, buses, and trucks on visitor visas and allow those visas to expire. Interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be any outcry about the 50,000 illegal Irish immigrants, only about the brown-skinned migrants responding to calls from wealthy American business owners for low-wage workers. We could end illegal immigration today if we started prosecuting heads of companies employing undocumented labor instead of the defenseless Christian refugees coming here for the same opportunities our immigrant relatives did.

Ironically, it was president Ronald Reagan who called for “open borders,” but the border is not “open.” That is a lie being amplified south of the border luring people to risk their lives.

If we are serious about living up to the ideals of inclusion, pluralism, and opportunity we supposedly espouse, we can start by welcoming asylum seekers, not demonizing them.