Letters, July 6, 2022: 'Caravans of people who cross border' strain local governments

People entering country illegally are straining local governments’ resources

According to the preamble to the Constitution, the protection of our borders (that is, national defense) is a major role of our federal government. The current administration is criminally ignoring its constitutional duty to control illegal immigration at the southwestern border.

The caravans of people who cross the border each year are putting a strain on local governments to support and educate them. Hundreds die of exposure, and thousands of women are raped on their journey, but the White House press secretary says it's doing all it can to control the cartels who prey on the migrants. Supposedly, Vice President Kamala Harris is in charge, but she hasn't proposed any effective controls, such as building a physical barrier, reimplementing the "stay in Mexico" policy or continuing Title 42.

Meanwhile, China produces fentanyl (and precursors to fentanyl), ships it to Mexico, and the cartels distribute it across the United States. Drug users don't realize how deadly it is. The latest estimates are 100,000 overdoses in the past year, 75,000 caused by opioids. China is poisoning our youth, and we do nothing.

Law enforcement has turned back hundreds of criminals and suspected terrorists, but let's face it — with thousands pouring across the border daily, we have virtually no control over who enters the country.

This has nothing to do with the "Green New Deal." It is a crime against humanity. We should discourage illegal aliens from coming; let them know in advance that if they travel to the U.S. border with the intention of crossing illegally they won't get in. They should stay at home with their families and loved ones. We owe this to all citizens and prospective citizens: If foreign nationals want to emigrate to the U.S., do it legally and safely.

Tom Miller, Vero Beach

Voting machine counts in Georgia in 2020 were reliable: This has to stop

Apparently Scott Adams, the cartoonist who draws “Dilbert," does not believe vote counting by machine — even when a hand count verifies that the machines operated properly. Adams' cartoons have been dangerously undermining the public's belief in America's voting system.

Georgia's 2020 election proved machine counts reliable. All of Georgia's state election officials were Republicans. Honest Republicans doing their jobs.

In Georgia's 2020 presidential election Democrat Joe Biden won by 11,779 votes over Republican Donald Trump. Trump immediately told his followers that the machines "were rigged" — that he had won "by a landslide.”

This is the same accusation of "rigged" election counts Trump made prior to his first election in 2016, when most politicians expected Trump to lose. When Trump won in 2016 he dropped further attacks on vote counts.

As a former election official in Michigan I know voting machine counts have to be backed up with "test" hand counts before every election.

It is a simple procedure. A number of votes are marked for every position on the ballot. Then these same ballots are run through the machines to check the machine count accuracy against the hand count.

Georgia election officials ran Trump's vote count twice through the machines. Then counted every single presidential vote by hand. Both machine and hand counts verified that Biden had won in Georgia.

I am concerned when our American system of voting is under constant attack by cartoonists like Adams and former President Trump.

This led to mob attacks on our Capitol to overthrow our government and death threats to federal and state officials.

"This has to stop! Someone is going to get killed,” warned Republican Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer in the office of the Georgia Secretary of State, following Trump's false charges.

Sterling was right. This does have to stop.

Ruth Sullivan, Vero Beach

The Supreme Court ruled against a long-standing New York gun law

Concerning the Supreme Court’s recent ruling striking down one part of a gun law in New York State: lots of name-calling by the right. Declaring victory for gun rights. Funny thing. That state gun law has been on the books for over a hundred years and been challenged in the courts many times  before many different judges of both persuasions. The country changed a lot over that time but no judges ruled the New York gun law was unconstitutional.

What the majority of the Supreme Court would like you to believe is that they are righting a long-term wrong. According to the present court majority all the judges that came before them were idiots and they and they alone are the only ones capable of understanding the Constitution.

Perhaps Justice Clarence Thomas should give his wife a lecture on the Constitution because nowhere in the Constitution does it allow overthrowing a legally elected president. When the small minority starts to bully the majority with their new Supreme Court they should wield that stick wisely, because that small majority is already on thin ice for supporting a coup.

Don Whisman, Stuart

Envision this: a Trump World amusement park (well, a satirical one)

There has been a lot of media coverage lately about what’s being called Trump World. Looking for more information on Trump World, I found a recent article in the “PDQ-Anon SuperSecret” newsletter. It reported that Donald Trump has decided not to build a presidential library, and instead will build an amusement and water park, cleverly named — Trump World, Entertainment and Recreation Park (TWERP).”

When asked about his decision, Trump said, “Whadda I know about libraries, and anyway, my people can’t read well.” Trump went on to say that TWERP would highlight all the greatest moments in his life and presidency. Numerous pavilions will feature important periods in Trump’s life, including "Atlantic City: The Bankruptcy Years" and the “Stop the Steal Hall of Mirrors," proving once and for all his 2020 landslide election victory.

In a separate wing of the “Hall of Mirrors," visitors can play an interactive role-playing game of his two impeachment trials, and actually be on the receiving end of a large selection of Trump’s most famous intimidating phone calls. Other pavilions planned are the “If Wishes Were Only True” pavilion, where visitors will see reenactments of public attacks on Mike Pence and the Jan. 6 Committee, as well as numerous replicas of Trump’s many world-famous properties, including Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago and Trump University’s leafy campus.

The newsletter said Trump is accepting donations and will begin construction when he feels like it.

Chris Christensen, Palm City

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Gun laws, illegal immigration, 'Trump World' satire: Letters, July 6