Ensuring our safety
I enjoyed Dr. Bradley Gitz's column "It's a mad, mad world." In my civics class in high school, I remember that one of the duties of the federal government was to ensure the safety of the United States and its citizens. It appears the welfare of illegal/legal immigrants takes precedence over this requirement.
Over the years some of us have come to the conclusion that everyone has a "right" to come to the United States. Reading Mr. Michael Dougan's dissertation on past history of immigration I noticed he neglected to mention several recent incidents of humanitarian events that went awry. One immediately comes to mind: President Jimmy Carter allowing in a boatload of criminals from Cuba that wreaked havoc on South Florida.
WILLIAM NELSON
Stuttgart
News in Possum Poot
The celebrations have finally wound down; only minor celebratory gunfire can be heard occasionally. I as mayor of Possum Poot deemed it necessary to travel to that bastion of poor, lost, liberal souls--i.e., Little Rock--to confer with the most righteous and holy of state senators--Brother Rapert--concerning his placement of the Ten Commandments and what further wisdom he has garnered from the Book of Books (the Old Testament) regarding the guidance and deliverance of we poor, lowly Arkansas denizens. Unfortunately, he was cloistered in deep conversation and prayer with Tom Cotton and not seeing constituents.
I did notice, whilst driving around, the uniqueness of Little Rock's traffic signals. It seems that they are not there to govern the traffic as to suggest specific stopping places and times, for no less than 40 cars ran through the intersections while I stared at green lights. Fortunately, I was not involved in an accident or the Poot would have been out a mayoral/police cruiser.
Oh well, back to the holy city (village) of Possum Poot. The children are learning new words to "Jesus Loves me," and we hope to hear it soon. ("The Donald loves me, this I know, for he often tells me so ...")
STEVE GIBSON
Little Rock
There's no there there
As Donald Trump issues new executive orders granting increased powers to apprehend and deport millions of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, and build a massively expensive border wall even as our inland infrastructure crumbles from neglect, he cites the supposed surge of illegal immigration at the southern border which has "overwhelmed federal agencies." It's just not true.
His own Border Patrol statistics contradict the so-called surge. In fact, the flow of migrants from Mexico to the U.S. is lower than it's been since the 1960s. And more significantly, according to a Pew Research Center report, migration flows from Mexico have actually reversed in the last several years: "Between 2009 and 2014, some 870,000 Mexican immigrants arrived in the U.S. while about 1 million left." More migrants moved south than moved north during Barack Obama's administration. The first time that's happened since the 1940s.
In short, there is no "surge" at the southern border. And if Mr. Trump studied history, he'd realize that such reversals of migratory flows often coincide with U.S. amnesty laws for current immigrants, not draconian crackdowns. Even the patron saint of contemporary conservatives, Ronald Reagan, understood this and embraced amnesty (despite his simultaneous militarization of the border).
Make no mistake: These executive orders and The Great Wall are more political theater. I believe they are addressing a problem that does not exist to appease a fearful and uninformed public, and in the process creating a problem we'll all have to deal with for years to come.
RUSSELL SHARMAN
Fayetteville
Reasoning not bizarre
Bradley Gitz wondered "what bizarre legal reasoning" the U.S. Appellate Court used in its Washington v. Trump decision. Since he apparently had not read the decision, I offer some quotes.
Trump, the court wrote, had taken the position that "the president's decisions about immigration policy, particularly when motivated by national security concerns, are unreviewable [by the courts] ... There is no precedent to support this[.]"
Mr. Gitz used quotation marks around "rights" of illegal aliens, but the procedural protections provided by the Constitution are not limited to citizens. Rather, said the court, "they 'appl[y] to all persons within the United States, including aliens,' regardless of 'whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary, or permanent'." Trump lost because he argued that "most or all of the individuals affected by the executive order have no rights under the Due Process Clause."
"The states," the court wrote, "argue that the executive order violates the Establishment [of religion] and Equal Protection Clauses because it was intended to disfavor Muslims. In support of this argument, the states have offered evidence of numerous statements by the president about his intent to implement a 'Muslim ban' as well as evidence they claim suggests that the executive order was intended to be that ban[.] ... Despite the district court's and our own repeated invitations to explain the urgent need for the executive order to be placed immediately into effect, the government submitted no evidence."
In short, the court's legal reasons were not bizarre.
DONALD P. BALLA
Siloam Springs
Trump and the press
Any poll or news critical of our "Twitter" president, Donald Trump, is "fake news." Don't take my word for it. Ask him. He will likely verify such and tell you it was made up by the "lying" news media.
Trump knows, I believe, that the news media helped elect him by providing millions of dollars in free advertising through airing and printing his outlandish and far-out ramblings.
Yes, it's the unusual that makes news, and our president certainly qualifies in that category.
Does our nation need change? I believe it does, but not at the radical pace Trump is setting, such as trying to throw out Obamacare with nothing to replace it, building a wall on the Mexican border with no money authorized for such, etc.
I do, however, agree with Trump that if we are going to protect the world against terrorism, other nations should provide more troops and financial support. After all, our nation is already $20 trillion in debt.
Like it or not, Trump is our president and I do believe we should give him a chance. I predict, however, that if he doesn't shape up in six months, leaders of both major political parties will ask him to resign.
Will he do so? Of course not, unless he senses that he could be impeached.
VERNON McDANIEL
Ozark
Editorial on 02/27/2017