Dear Editor:

Recently, a concerned citizen wrote to our editor, urging us to follow the “will of the people” regarding immigration controls. He excoriated President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkis for failing to enforce immigration laws and terminating “Trump’s effective border security policy.”

The “will of the people” is actually pretty clear: 81% of us think that illegal immigrants living in the U.S. should be allowed to stay in our country for either a limited time to work or to become U.S. citizens; 78% of us are sympathetic toward people from other countries who travel to our border in an attempt to enter the U.S.; 66% of us oppose Trump’s $25 billion, $20 million-per-mile wall (of course, not paid for by Mexico); 83% favor granting President Obama’s “Dreamers” the chance to become citizens.

Along with the American public, a clear majority of Senators and House members support the current bipartisan bill reforming our immigration system, unchanged since 1990, thanks to Congressional inaction. The Senate passed the bill handily, 68-32, but Trump opposed it, arguing that it could hurt his chances for re-election; his MAGA sycophants in the House will not even vote on it.

So much for “the will of the people.”

Bill Hammond

Boothbay