Letter: What we learn from border kids
This June 18, 2014 file-pool photo shows detainees in a holding cell at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville, Texas. The surge of Central American children crossing the U.S. southern border has shifted the politics of immigration. Credit: AP
I am dismayed at the response of the Commack community to a church's desire to help refugee children ["Outrage over kids plan," News, Aug. 20].
Concern about property values and references to disease and crime seem a bit extreme. The MercyFirst organization in Syosset has not had a problem with kids leaving the site, and the kids would only be here temporarily.
The reaction in Commack is based in unfounded fear and seeming prejudice. None of the immigrants I know came here wanting to break the law; they came to work hard and make a better life. In fact, it would be a very eye-opening and enriching experience for our own kids to have an opportunity to speak to the young people coming here. It might help them better appreciate what they have.
Elisabeth Fiteni, Oyster Bay
