DeSantis shows progress, regression; Biden wrong on border, elsewhere | Letters, Feb. 23

Problem at southern border worse than we can imagine

It is without question the situation at the southern border is a crisis. This is a humanitarian crisis, financial crisis and national security crisis. What is left out of the conversation is the transfer of wealth to the cartels and the long-term effect it will have on the Mexican and U.S. populations.

According to the New York Times: “The border has evolved into a multibillion-dollar international business controlled by organized crime, including some of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels.” Putting this into some sort of perspective, the criminals are now financially strong enough to influence governments.

According to Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an expert on smuggling at George Mason University, fees paid to the cartels range from $4,000 for migrants coming from Latin America, to $20,000 if they come from Africa, Eastern Europe or Asia. No one crosses the border without paying the cartels.

Drug smuggling and human trafficking have become even more lucrative for the cartels. There have been more than 150,000 deaths in the United States in 2022 from drug overdoses. Additionally, men, women and children are being exploited and forced into labor. Human trafficking is now considered a modern form of slavery, and it has become one of the world’s most lucrative businesses, bringing in an estimated $150 billion annually for cartels.

This new financial strength provides the cartels enough resources to influence government officials as well as establish organized gangs in the United States to carry out their mission.

This transfer of wealth alone should be enough to close our southern borders, however, our current administration believes there are no significant problems at our borders. Please let your legislators know that you oppose an open border with unlimited drugs and human trafficking coming into our country.

Richard Geisinger, Stuart

Teachers have it tough already; end culture wars

In the United States, public school teachers and nurses are tied for the most job-related stress. And, because of a shortage of professionals in mental health, access to providers has become increasingly difficult (the74million.org).

Last year, 20,000 New York City teachers accessed free, short-term confidential counseling services through their union. However, many others were unable to acquire the mental assistance they needed. Some teachers, driven to distraction by a plethora of classroom-related issue,s including disruptive behavior, post-COVID depression and increased workloads due to chronic staff shortages — not to mention shameless attacks on educators by right-wing fanatics — have sought professional care through private, pay-as-you-go psychological services most teachers can’t afford long term.

Dr. Leigh McLean, an education researcher at the University of Delaware, notes teacher anxiety and depression symptoms are on the rise, especially for early-career educators and teachers of color. McLean, who has studied the impact of teacher depression for years, suggests "educators have been given an impossible task ... We’ve created a system that is not supportive of their well-being.”

My son is a middle-school teacher in the Bronx. When in-person instruction resumed in 2021, four of his colleagues quit the profession during the first two weeks. Cooped up at home alone or with unattended siblings and prey to social-media harassment, many of his students brought their aggression, frustration, anger and resentments to school during those first chaotic months of class. He told me: “Even the nicest kids, the ones you never had trouble with before, were getting into fights.  It was classroom chaos from first bell to last. I came very close to quitting, too.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ culture war on educators is a despicable political ploy to encourage belligerent, intolerable, outrageously rude MAGA supporters to verbally assault educators. This is the shameless behavior of thoughtless, immature adults.

Cray Little, Vero Beach

Biden shows importance of having Trump as president

America, we have a problem!

A war of good and evil is brewing within our country, and I have a kaleidoscope of memories to compare our past life with life in America today.

There may be a good reasons Joe Biden and family have be tiptoeing around China, Russia and Ukraine. His 50 years taking a taxpayer paycheck after rolling out of the college dorm is ridiculous, and a good reason for term limits.

It’s easy to see by his outrageous spending, he and other lifetime politicians have never run successful businesses, and why they don’t want anyone who’s successful outside of politics ruining their incestuous money pit.

It takes a lot of continuous cash to keep those mansions, toys and lifestyles working. Amazing, how quickly they vote for cash payouts when so much of it always gets lost.

I don’t think our country can survive another two years of Biden and his unelected associates running our country.

If we ever needed Donald Trump to be president, it’s now!

Joan Hall, Vero Beach

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DeSantis' efforts, print headline show proof of progress

Your front-page headline Feb. 13 that screamed "WHIPLASH" was no surprise. Whenever Gov. Ron DeSantis busts a move, there is whiplash from the left.

How Dems can find unlimited ways to attack him, speaks to the bias of our media and the left that backs it. DeSantis haters are well armed, having practiced the last six years with Trump hate. Their robotic responses to an active governor who has the nerve to insert himself into the morass of public education must be too MAGA. The knee-jerk opposition to the Parents Rights Bill, the dissolving of the Magic Kingdom’s kingdom and the removal of gender identity and racism from our schools has made thin-skinned, low-information voters crazy.

The whiplash story compares the manufactured outrage around George Floyd’s death to backsliding on civil rights?Taking AP courses down that accentuate racial and gender conflict is equivalent to a Pearl Harbor level event? Your huge headline font should be reserved for UFO landings. The article's harping on some thin comparison of DeSantis’ retaking Florida schools and colleges to the capitulation to the “diversity” crowd of three years ago is weak.

I believe diversity, equity and inclusion are shams to finance the “systemic racism” industry. What about political or intellectual diversity? Money from outside foundations fuel divisions within our education culture. Our new departments of education and state need to fight off those illicit contributions as well.

When DeSantis decided the New College was ripe for a sociological update, the radical professors and administration hit the roof. If they weren’t so liberal, why would they be so afraid of changing the board to create political fresh air? That admission of leftist education signaled the intervention by more mature leaders.

Your “whiplash” is our proof of actual progress.

Norman Grant, Vero Beach 

Biden missteps give cause for concern

I anticipated that during the State of the Union address, we would hear Joe Biden try and convince us how we feel and what we see isn’t true, and he didn’t disappoint me.

According to Joe, the economy is great, inflation is down, millions of new jobs have been created and he is decreasing the deficit despite record amount of spending.

At times Biden sounded a lot like Donald Trump with his references to the forgotten man and bringing good paying jobs back to the USA.

Joe tried to take credit for reducing the cost of insulin, when it was actually Trump who proposed it.

Biden also tried to take credit for putting a cap on prescription drugs, but failed to mention that doesn’t go into effect until 2025.

Biden also dramatically exaggerated the number of construction jobs created under his administration. Biden claimed wages are going up faster than inflation. Again, that isn’t true.

He claimed oil industries were slow walking leases. Why should he be surprised when he has said he will destroy the oil industry?

Biden also tried to mislead the American public about the Republican position on Social Security.

Does anyone actually believe his immigration policy on the southern border is a success?

Biden made little mention of the  Chinese spy balloons, which he doesn’t see as a national security threat. He also didn’t mention the train derailment in Ohio with the toxic chemicals spill.

And yet with all his misinformation and lack of leadership, Biden supporters still defend him. As for me, I am so concerned for the future and welfare of our country.

Betsy DiBenedetto, Vero Beach

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: DeSantis shows progress, but ... ; Biden wrong on border | Letters