Letters to Editor

TO THE EDITOR,

I look forward to reading the latest news in El Heraldo Latino because too often immigration-related news is not being covered by the weekly newspapers in the East Boston community. I do hope that more stories will show up in your newspaper in English because the entire East Boston community would be better served.

As a community activist and newspaper journalist, I have sometimes been accused of being insensitive to the Latino community because of my so-called opposition to illegal immigration and my support for better border security measures.

I am the grandson of legal immigrants who came to this country between 1904-1907. I am not opposed to folks wanting to come to America for a better life for themselves and their children. I am opposed to those who think they have a right get here any way they can, either through illegally crossing a border or overstaying a visa. Recently, I saw a quote by Alejandra St. Gillen who works out of City Hall and whom I first met at ¡Oiste! years ago. She stated, “Immigrants from countries all over the world are just as Bostonian as any of us.” If you are living in Boston, you can call yourself a Bostonian but if you broke into this country illegally, you are not as American as a legal immigrant or U.S. citizen.

I know that when discussing the immigration issue, we aren’t just talking cold hard facts, we are talking human beings often caught in the middle of this issue.

The quotes by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson make great sense still today. Our immigration policy should be generous, fair and flexible. We are nourished as a nation by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.

President Trump is not as wrong as many take him to be. His latest proposal for Dreamers giving 1.8 million a pathway to citizenship and legalizing them here today is an idea both sides should agree on.

However, he has opponents on both sides. Conservatives think he is giving up too much and liberals are never satisfied. Democrats in Washington won’t be satisfied until amnesty is handed out to all 11-15 million undocumented immigrants.

I see nothing wrong with reducing chain migration and ending the diversity lottery for visas. Stronger border security, with (maybe partly) a wall, is a necessity or we will keep coming back to this issue in years to come.

All of us need to find a middle ground on this issue because not doing so will only keep us from becoming one nation again. We can’t keep debating and arguing with each other forever.

Sincerely,
Sal Giarratani                                                                                                                                        East Boston

FROM THE EDITOR,

First of all, I want to thank my colleague Mr. Giarratani for sending his Letter to the Editor, in which he asks me to continue covering immigration news and issues in El Heraldo Latino in English. I promise that El Heraldo Latino will continue its broad and deep coverage of immigration issues on local, state, and national levels. Going forward, we will also make an effort to translate more articles on immigration into English so that he and other English-speakers can join in the discussion. We welcome additional Letters to the Editor and opinion pieces on this topic in both languages for our March edition. They should arrive no later than February 23rd to be included.

Sincerely,                                                                                                                                              Luis Bravo                                                                                                                                            Editor