Dear Editor:

In his recent letter to the editor, Linc Sample writes: “After four years of a Democrat controlled Congress led by Pelosi standing in the way of any attempt to secure the border and help fix America’s immigration system, they have created this crisis.”

Note that in a joint speech in January of 2019, Sen. Schumer and Speaker of the House Pelosi responded to Trump on border security, saying they do believe there should be a border wall and that women and children illegally entering the U.S. is not a threat to security.

“We all agree we need to secure our borders while honoring our values…we can build the infrastructure and roads at our ports of entry, we can install new technology to scan cars and trucks for drugs coming into our nation, we can hire the person we need to facilitate trade and immigration at the border, we can find innovation to detect unauthorized crossings,” Pelosi said. “The fact is, the women and children at the border are not a security threat…they’re a humanitarian challenge.”

Sample mentions having seen “Biden Let Me In” T-shirts. That appears to be a reasonable plea to make; but were those wearing the shirts claiming that they had actually been let in by the Biden Administration or merely pleading so? Semantics matter, and such shirts are for sale.

No doubt this conversation will continue; these matters have a way of doing that. Xenophobia has long been an American tradition, be it focused on foreigners from other countries or transplants to Maine such as I.

Ronald J. Riml

West Boothbay Harbor