An open letter to the Riverhead Town supervisor and council members:
Dear Supervisor and Members of the Board,
Ms. Waski wrote to Riverhead Local, “I support ICE, our Police Department, and the rule of law as essential to maintaining safe communities.” (‘Waski responds to OLA, July 9) Similar sentiments have been expressed by other Republican members of the Town Board.
What do you make of the substantial record of ICE brutalization of migrants, including the most recent murder in Houston on July 7 of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, as reported in the Washington Post https://wapo.st/4ydn1Ux
And documented here:
“Lorenzo Salgado Araujo: Drone Video Shows No Damage, Challenging ICE Narrative in Fatal Houston Shooting” https://www.reddit.com/r/EyesOnIce/comments/1us3fj3/lorenzo_salgado_araujo_drone_video_shows_no/
Ms. Waski also wrote, “For those seeking to be part of the American Dream, I encourage you to follow the appropriate legal process to enter or remain in the United States lawfully.”
I am not an expert in immigration law, but found a useful dose of realism in this comment, one of more than 2,600 made on the cited Washington Post article:
It’s astounding how many Americans do not know the very basics of the immigration system.
“If he was supposedly so hardworking, how come he could not be bothered to apply for citizenship for 30 years?”
How come? I can explain. Republicans believe that giving someone like him a chance to put in a permanent residency application would be amnesty, and they are opposed to this amnesty!
The US immigration system is not like applying to college, that anyone meeting basic criteria can just apply, then hope to get picked! You can only apply if you meet certain very narrow criteria, for example if you are a spouse or a sibling of a US citizen. Being a hardworking, taxpaying, family man does not qualify you for any kind of visa in our immigration system.
He would have been ineligible to apply at 18 when he first entered. There was no line to get into. He was ineligible to apply at 52, with a solid track record of 30 years of hard work and paying taxes. There is no line for someone like him to get into. HE DID NOT APPLY, BECAUSE HE NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO APPLY.
I believe that hardworking immigrants should have some kind of pathway for entering the country, or given that the door of legal immigration has been bolted shut for working-class immigrants for so many decades, to legalize their status based on their track record in the US. Republicans believe the opposite: a chance to put in an application [is] amnesty! No Amnesty, ever! Big Immigration bills failed in 2006 and 2013. These were the bills that would have allowed hard-working immigrants just like Mr. Arajuto a chance to APPLY for legal status. The bills failed, so he never had the chance to APPLY. Rest in peace, Mr. Araujo. You deserved better from this country.
Are you waiting for a similar deadly incident in Riverhead or a neighboring town to give fair consideration to the legislation from OLA?
John McAuliff
Riverhead Watch
Roanoke Landing
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