Inbox: Letters About ICE Arresting a Dad, Inmates' High Phone Rates and the Oregon Country Fair Nixing the "Story Pole"

(Joe Riedl)

Ice Arrested My Dad

This is yet another maudlin article about illegal immigrants behaving irresponsibly and blaming U.S. immigration laws instead of themselves for their poor decisions ["Where Is Daddy?" WW, May 10, 2017].

Also, this article suggests [through reporting of legislative efforts] that if you illegally cross the border to the U.S., you are entitled to gain citizenship simply for the act of reproducing, something any idiot can do. This is what the diversity fanatics want, an end run around immigration laws.

Imagine if they succeed. We already allow anchor babies, but if the parents are also automatically granted citizenship, there's no impediment to just crossing over, having babies and—voilà!—you're a citizen.

—"GerMart"

I am a health care provider who has very intentionally worked in service of the Latino and immigrant community at a nonprofit clinic, and I am not sure why the reporter chose this particular family to make this particular point.

For Juan Carlos Andrade-Lopez's children, the situation is no different from his simply being in jail—which is where a drunk driver belongs on the first offense, to say nothing of the second.

This family was torn apart by one man's dangerous irresponsibility, not immigration law.

—"Karlita"

Inmates Pay High Phone Rates

The Oregon Department of Corrections gives a lot of lip service to the well-documented fact that inmates who keep in touch with their families and law-abiding friends while inside will have a smoother re-entry and lower recidivism rate when they're cut loose than those who don't ["Calling Collect," WW, May 10, 2017]. And yet, it creates a severe hardship for families even to talk to incarcerated loved ones. My neighbors' son was depressed and suicidal while inside. His family was very worried about him. The DOC was pretty non-responsive, so the family called him every few days and agreed to reimburse twice-monthly calls for his therapist and girlfriend, to keep him going. It cost them tens of thousands of dollars to provide a basic lifeline to him.

—"Seems2Me"

Fair Nixes "Story Pole"

Many tribal members were insulted and talked down to by supporters of raising this pole [Starters: "Hippies Listen to Natives," WW, May 10, 2017]. We were told how to think, how to feel and how the real world works. These were not right-wing Trump supporters. These were progressive liberals that would join a March for Science, tout that "I'm With Her," promote Eat Local along with other very noble ideas.

—"Mayo Finch"

Censorship is censorship, no matter how pure the motives. And if the Oregon Country Fair board of directors is a public body, there has probably been a violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.

—"Alan Davey"

Letters to the editor must include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words.
Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210.
Email: mzusman@wweek.com.

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