Why the deep fear and hatred of immigrants seeking refugee status from wars and economic depression by Donald Trump? Yes, illegal immigration needs to be significantly reduced, but why the need for the vicious propaganda dehumanizing recent immigrants seeking refugee status in the U.S. as the basis of Trump’s presidential campaign? Why not instead propose realistic, effective solutions? I have not heard a single one yet from Trump, while his expensive, taxpayer paid walls have proven ineffective.

The United States is a country of immigrants. Thirty-nine of the 55 “Founding Fathers” signing the Constitution were immigrants. Unless you are Native American; you, Trump and I are either immigrants or the ancestors of immigrants to the U.S.

Trump’s anti-immigrant speeches border on hate speech, such as his infamous statements last December that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” terminology similar to Adolf Hitler’s in his manifesto “Mein Kampf.” This past April in Wisconsin, Trump called immigrants “animals” and “not human.” He’s called Mexican immigrants “rapists.” Refugees come from (expletive) countries like Haiti, El Salvador and African countries, according to Trump. His message to voters is that the USA is turning into “a crime-ridden, disease-ridden dumping ground.” Trump’s speeches on immigration are similar to those of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) against African-Americans during the Jim Crow era, or the KKK and other Protestant nativists against Maine’s Catholic, French-Canadian immigrants in the 1920s.

If Trump truly feels illegal immigration is one of the preeminent problems facing the country, why did he lobby against and successfully scuttle last spring’s bipartisan Federal immigration legislation that would have made significant progress toward reducing illegal immigration? The answer is simple — for his personal political gain and so Trump can continue to use immigration as a political club in the presidential election.

George Seel

Belgrade