To the editor:
When Curt Raftshol (Normal or Crazy, 11-28) addresses “those who voted for open borders for murderers and rapists,” he fails to mention that less than a year ago President Biden was fully prepared to sign the toughest border bill in 30 years.
It was a bi-partisan bill, with measures identical to what Republicans had long backed, and still backed, until Trump said No. He needed to run on the issue, so they obediently turned on a dime and killed the bill.
As for “murderers and rapists,” Raftshol also fails to mention that, according to numerous studies, immigration is not linked to higher levels of crime, but rather the opposite.
A recent study drawing on Texas criminal records that include the immigration status of everyone arrested in the state from 2012 to 2018, found that “undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U. S. citizens for violent and drug crimes” (NIJ, 2024).
This stands to reason. The last thing an undocumented immigrant would want would be to draw attention to himself by committing a crime.
In the next four years, we’ll need to be especially clear in our thinking and our factchecking, and also to have the courage, when needed, to openly differ with our party or president. Porter Abbott Northport
