Americans are an immigrant nation and must welcome them as in "Give me your tired, your poor...."

Echo opinion letter published in the Austin Daily Herald in Austin, Minnesota:

In the past our country has welcomed immigrants. 

Most of them do have good reasons for being here; war in their country, famine or supporting a family. 

Trump and ICE throwing them out of the USA is totally different from what I feel our country should stand for! 

On the Statue of Liberty, the  says “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”* 

That’s the United States I know. Bishop Marriann Edgar Buddle says, “That towns that have a high level of undocumented immigrants have a lower crime rate.”

Thank you to the Brookside School and Albert Lea MN, for having classes for our immigrants.  

From Mary Emery  Albert Lea, city in Minnesota

*"The New Colossus" is a sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus (1849–1887). She wrote the poem in 1883 to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World).  In 1903, the poem was cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal's lower level.

Donald Trump should read the history about what other American and tested world leaders have done to rise above challenges

Austin Daily Herald in Minnesota

Echo opinion letter:

Leaders are defined by how they handle problems/crisis and the actions they take. Examples of leaders would be Winston Churchill (World War II), President John F. Kennedy (Cuban missile crisis), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Great Depression), President Ronald Reagan (Berlin Wall), Lech Walesa ( Poland overthrow of the United Soviet Socialist Republican) etc. etc. (Maine Writer- perhaps include Nelson Mandela in this group.)

Today, America is in the middle of possibly the gravest event (pandemic coronavirus) in the past 75 years. We have all or soon will be personally affected by this crisis. The situation is serious, dangerous, life altering and very personal. The situation calls out for and demands strong, focused leadership. 

Yet, Trump’s (failed) leadership during this crisis has been lacking and subsequently dangerous for the citizenry of our country. 

Failure to anticipate, failure to react, failure to lead (no national strategy), failure to tell the truth and failure to provide empathy. 

If Trump were leading an American corporation, the board of directors would have already “shown him the door.” We, the American people, are the board of directors for our country. Let us be sure we do our job! (#Trumpmustresign!) From Robert A Stratton Austin, Minnesota