The Observer Newspapers | Applaud Town for Immigration Action

April 17, 2008

Applaud Town for Immigration Action

To the editor:

Over the past few weeks I have read a number of letters regarding the alleged divisiveness that exists in our community, primarily having to do with various facets of our immigration issues. I can only conclude that many of these letters are meant to foment that divisiveness by their incendiary and careless misuse of the words "immigrant" and "discrimination."

The issue we face in this town is not with immigrants in general but with those who are here illegally. To lump in the entire immigrant community with those who choose to disregard our nation's laws and take advantage of our largess as a people is to diminish and disrespect those who have come here legally and who contribute to our community beyond simply providing cheap labor. Immigration laws apply to everybody. Anybody who is here illegally, whether from Europe, Asia, Africa or anyplace else, needs to go home. It is simply an unfortunate fact of life that the Latino community is the more conspicuous group and therefore receives the most attention.

Denying tax-supported services and enforcing laws regarding overcrowding and other crimes are not discrimination. They apply to everybody. That a particular group seems to be bearing the brunt of those efforts is no more than an unfortunate happenstance.

I applaud the town for closing the day labor center and embracing the federal 287(g) program. In fact, we should unite with neighboring communities to expand the reach of our efforts across the region. The federal government has neither the interest nor the resources to devote to grass-roots enforcement. We can and should do what we can to enforce our laws and maybe get the attention of our representatives in order to make immigration enforcement a higher priority issue. Here again, this is not discrimination.

Let's face it, illegal immigrants are a serious drain on our resources and are now fueling a large part of the housing crisis in our area. It is unrealistic to expect the general populace to pay higher taxes in order to support a community that is not contributing to the tax pool while at the same time consuming a large part of it.

Our current Town Council has done an admirable job of taking this issue on and making good progress with it while at the same time planning for our town's future. I have found Mayor Steve DeBenedittis to be genuinely interested in what his constituents have to say, as opposed to his predecessor who only pretended to listen. The Town Council has done this while not increasing taxes or charging new or increased fees for community services.

There are plenty of things for us to have differences of opinion about without manufacturing new ones. The discourse in our country has become unnecessarily and unreasonably coarse and partisan. There no longer seems to be any middle ground, which is where most of us live. Let's try to re-establish that place where people can discuss issues without twisting facts and playing semantics games to support an otherwise weak position.

Wes Hirschhorn

Herndon