Letters

Thank you, Carlos Sandoval, for providing the impetus for me to respond to your column asking fellow Latinos to prevent a second Donald Trump presidency and rescue our fragile democracy [“Latino al Rescate/Latinos to the Rescue,” Vistas, Opinion, February 1].

Mr. Sandoval is impassioned as always in his devotion to liberal propaganda. He repeats outrageous statements, no doubt heard on MSNBC or his chosen news outlets, that are mostly pure hysteria.

We live in a country now divided into alternative universes driven by ratings seekers and paper sellers that can no longer be trusted with any fact.

I know this because I read and watch the purveyors of progressive claptrap often enough to become accustomed to their groupthink and distorted reality.

A few examples right from Mr. Sandoval’s own words: Trump, if elected, will make himself a dictator; this could be the last legitimate election; Trump hates immigrants; Trump will seek “revenge” if elected. These statements are too imbecilic to respond to.

A kernel of truth at the core of each of these exaggerations is not enough to take seriously. It would be a fool’s errand.

In speaking directly to his Latino audience here, he amplifies this hysteria, and it preys upon an ill-informed and gullible audience. Unfortunately for Mr. Sandoval, his audience is increasingly in agreement with Republicans and objects to our open border and the millions of unaccountable intruders who are now the obligation of angry American taxpayers.

Soon, Mr. Sandoval, your local amigos realize they will be competing with these desperate men and women for the same jobs. This will lower wages and reduce work opportunity for them. It will also cause hardship in our local minority labor force.

Voting for more of this will destroy America as it devolves further and further into a welfare state supported by an already stressed middle class. Medical attention for these folks will come from the same sources that are today getting increasingly harder to have access to. Schools will require special education resources for language-challenged students. This will dilute the very resources now already spread thin to Mr. Sandoval’s constituents. That will not make the existing Latino family happy either.

President Joe Biden has personally destroyed what border integrity we had. Upon taking office, Biden ended existing Trump border policy that had been effective. The “Big Lie” he shamelessly uses — that he can’t fix the border because the Republicans won’t give him the funding — is pure fiction. Mr. Biden could simply extinguish his own executive order.

It is incomprehensible seeing the hardship and suffering visited upon immigrants forced to live on our streets without a shred of responsibility from our president and advocates like Mr. Sandoval.

Ed Surgan

Westhampton