Plenty of lessons to be learned

To the editor:

(re: “Maybe Helbok could use lesson?” Oct. 6)

In a letter to the editor, Nat Weiner agrees with Miriam Levine Helbok that “illegal immigrants” should be treated humanely and without cruelty. But he wants them deported because “this country does not have the resources to take care of its own needy.” He blames immigrants for “drug gangs” who fight “bloody wars” at the border. 

He claims that in the 1960s, “the borders were opened,” and therefore “the economy has been a disaster ... ever since.” In consequence, he proposes that “the borders need to be shut down completely except for the most desperate cases.”   

(Apparently Mr. Wiener does not regard Latin Americans fleeing from deep poverty and starvation, criminal gangs, government repression, and civil wars to be among the “most desperate cases.”)

Unless you are a Native American, you are an immigrant or the descendent of immigrants. Throughout the history of our country, immigrants have been denounced, with nativist arguments such as Mr. Wiener’s. From the Alien and Sedition Acts under John Adams to the Know Nothings whom Abraham Lincoln opposed, and on to today. They have denounced the Irish, Italians, Germans, all Catholics, Chinese, Japanese, Jews, and so on. 

All these groupings went on to enrich the culture, economy and politics of the country. Rather than using up “resources” and impoverishing the nation, immigrants have expanded the wealth and industry of the United States of America.

Whether they were called “illegal” depended entirely on what were the laws and regulations about immigration, which fluctuated widely. One generation’s legal immigration became another’s illegal immigration and back again over time. 

Contrary to Nat Wiener, the country does indeed have the resources to take care of its needy as well as much more. The problem is not immigrants. The top 0.1 percent and the bottom 90 percent have equivalent amounts of the country’s wealth. 

Nativists blame a section of the bottom 90 percent and would have us fight among each other. Rather we should be taking the vast wealth of the tiny rich and powerful elite and using it to pay for expanding the work force, preventing climate catastrophe, and other needs. Meanwhile huge sums could be saved by cutting back the nuclear “defense” forces, which are weapons for a war that must never be fought, and cutting the hundreds of overseas military bases. 

Yes, we do have the “resources to take care of our needy” if we will use them.

Wayne Price