Letters: Immigration joys and disasters
Miriam Lopez, left, Faby Jacome and Dulce Saavedra console each other as they are brought to tears while watching President Barack Obama's speech on executive action on immigration outside the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014. Saavedra said "it's just unfair." Credit: AP / Los Angeles Times, Gina Ferazzi
I'm a great advocate for children's education. I teach in Haiti with a mission service. However, we cannot keep on saying yes to all the kids who are dumped over our border.
People refuse to comprehend that the more we welcome folks who are here illegally, the more they will keep coming. In the meantime, no one -- not politicians or the media -- talks about the pressure this acceptance puts on our schools, our teachers, our students and, worst of all, our economy.
Just before President Barack Obama delivered his speech on immigration reform, CNN broadcast an interview with a woman and her child who had just crossed over the border because they heard the president was about to allow immigrants who arrive without permission to stay in the United States.
The president clearly stated that everyone who arrived here less than five years ago will not benefit from his new directive. I need someone to tell me, why do we taxpayers have to shell out thousands of dollars per child to keep them in our school system?
In the meantime, every year I pay thousands of dollars into the economy, and I receive $0 to help me with my two daughters in college. What's wrong with this picture?
David Duchatellier, Elmont
Using an executive order, President Barack Obama took the proverbial bull by the horns and placed it in the lap of the soon-to-be Republican Congress. More than 7,300 presidential proclamations have been issued since 1789.
There are many examples of former presidents making policy by executive order. President Harry Truman desegregated the armed services. President Bill Clinton instituted "don't ask, don't tell" in the military, thereby permitting gays and lesbians to participate. Was not the Emancipation Proclamation an executive order?
In the short term, Obama will be pilloried. However, his actions will bear electoral fruit in the next congressional election. His actions will provide security to those who have spent their entire lives here as children of immigrants who came illegally.
It's a courageous act by a president who has refused to turn his back. Can you imagine an America that went against our founding principles? The result would be a diaspora of people who are now living here as immigrants, returning to countries where they've never been. This would change the world's perception of our country.
The president's initiative will provide a great economic bonus. These individuals will pay into Social Security and obtain health insurance. The current Social Security system has been affected by an aging population, and the baby boomers are just starting to retire. America will get a much needed shot in the arm.
Joseph Fritz, Brentwood
Editor's note: The writer ran unsuccessfully for State Senate this year as a Democrat.
Clearly, President Barack Obama did not issue this executive order out of the goodness of his heart. It's simply a means of guaranteeing the Hispanic vote for Democrats.
My family came through Ellis Island, and barely scraped up the money to get to our beautiful America. They went to night school to learn English and managed to get by with no handouts.
The year was 1929 -- on the eve of the Great Depression! They were so very proud to be sworn in as American citizens.
Linda Jacobs, Port Jefferson Station
Newsday has given an entire column to someone living here illegally, to tug at American heart strings and to plead the case for breaking our laws ["How Obama's order changes my life," Opinion, Nov. 21].
I never see equal space given to those who oppose illegal immigration.
The latest column leaves out key details. There is no mention of the cost burden to American taxpayers. Newsday, like liberal Democrats and our president, simply chooses to ignore this.
No one forced these people to enter the United States illegally. It was their choice; therefore, any consequences of their actions are solely their fault. They, not American immigration laws, placed their families in jeopardy.
This country was founded on laws, and it has existed and prospered based on laws. I never see any mention of this key point.
Anthony Johnson Sr., Brentwood
