To the editor:

My father served in the Army Air Force during World War II. He was a gunnery instructor who taught airmen how to fire the fifty caliber machine guns in the ball turrets of B-17 bombers. I have always been proud of his service. Were he alive today, dad would be appalled to discover that the country he loved now employs secret police to drag people out of their cars, homes, hospitals, schools, and even courtrooms to send them off, without any due process, to detention centers (a euphemism for concentration camps). Dad, who was Presbyterian, also served as a Christian educator. I know what he would say: “Find yourself a concordance of the Hebrew bible. Look up the word ‘stranger,’ which also means ‘immigrant,’ ‘foreigner,’ or ‘refugee.’ Read the many passages that contain that word to see what the bible actually says about how we are to treat immigrants.” I would add this: there is no such thing as an “illegal alien.” They are human beings made in God’s image who contribute to our country in many important ways. Crime rates among immigrants are significantly lower than “native” populations (whites are now considered natives!). We have so many undocumented immigrants because Congress has repeatedly failed to reform our immigration system. Let’s eliminate ICE altogether, and use the money we save to expand our immigration courts, so that refugees fleeing for their lives to our country won’t have to wait five years to get a hearing.

Paul Romine,

Lawrence