Under Biden, America's border resembles an open gate

Biden is bungling immigration

If you voted for our current president, please turn off MSNBC and WAKE UP!

It is estimated that more than 8 million immigrants have entered our country illegally at all ports of entry since Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

That is roughly the population of the nine least populated states in the USA combined! This has got to stop!

We have no country as we have no border. We have no idea who is coming in. How many terrorists have arrived?

There is a right way and a wrong way to manage immigration. This is not the right way.

I certainly didn’t vote for this mess.

Greg Johnson, Bradenton

US needs immigrants and border control

We are headed into the 2024 election, eight years since the 2016 go-around. So most of the time, when I hear a Republican congressman or senator being interviewed or I get an unwanted email from Rep. Greg Steube, it’s all about the terrible economy (which isn't terrible), "radical democrat leftists" and, of course, the "immigration crisis"!That was the crisis that the Golden Goose ranted about after his grand entrance down the golden escalator. After eight years of hair-on-fire ranting about being overrun by "illegal" foreigners, what are they afraid of?MS-13! Rampant immigrant crime! Taking our jobs!

So all these years later, with 3% unemployment, seasonal and service businesses cutting back hours because they can’t get help and more mass shootings by homegrown terrorists, I realized that the real crisis is how we have treated these immigrants, who are no different in their ambitions than the Pilgrims who sought to escape tyranny.We need immigration reform and control – but we need immigrants, too.

And 99% of those who’ve come and survived the bad treatment seem to be a net positive for the country. We needed them and they’re contributing, just like my grandparents did.Tom McArdle, Sarasota

True to form, Trump insults Jews

I am an ardent Jew, American and Democrat. I condemn former President Donald Trump's antisemitic rant on one of the most holy days of the year, Rosh Hashanah.

On any day, Trump’s kind of scapegoating feeds into the fear and hate on which white supremacists thrive.

All too often we have witnessed how some of Trump’s supporters are energized by his rhetoric to commit hate crimes based on his twisted view of history.

Trump's statements on his Truth Social platform that liberal Jews are “disloyal” – and that, by not supporting Trump, we voted to “destroy America and Israel” – are ludicrous. In addition to these lies, Trump's calculated threat to American Jews – “Let’s hope you learned from your mistake” – is appalling.

When will the Republican Party and its political constituents publicly denounce Trump’s antisemitism and fearmongering? Is a nation based on hatred and bigotry in consonance with our Constitution? 

Julie Friedman, Sarasota County

Would-be authoritarian threatens our voice

At the core of our nation’s founding was to give citizens a voice in our governance, not to make us voiceless against an authoritarian king.

Our founders wrote the Constitution as a framework to protect our individual rights to the ballot box, free speech, religion, press and peaceable assembly. These institutions are like buildings that protect inhabitants from heat, cold and storms.

We watch as a power-grabbing authoritarian in Russia destroys buildings in Ukraine, leaving its citizens dead, homeless or unprotected.

In our country, the Constitution and our stabilizing institutions like schools, churches and governments are being attacked by power grabbers. These attacks threaten our voice and vote in our governance.

Our vote is the heart of our form of government by the people. If our vote is not protected, the framework of our institutions will not hold, and we will have a lawless, chaotic state.

The founders never imagined our over 200-year-old Constitution would be threatened by one man who would be king alone in a room with a cellphone.

The collapse of our framework affects everyone, just as buildings in Ukraine fall on all within.

No need to ask on whom the walls fall – they fall on all.

Donna Brua, Port Charlotte

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Biden's bungled immigration policy has put America in danger