I am proud to be the child of immigrants. One branch of my family emigrated from Holland in the 1600s with the Roosevelts and settled in the Hudson Valley when New York was still New Amsterdam. Another branch emigrated from Scotland just in time to fight in the Revolutionary War to free this country from England, and later fought in the Civil War to free African Americans from slavery.

On my mother’s side, my grandfather emigrated from France, arriving alone at Ellis Island at the age of 13. He would work his way up to own a successful landscaping business in Chicago.

I am proud of all of them and proud to live in a country that welcomed them and allowed them an opportunity to achieve the American Dream. They, and hundreds of thousands just like them from all over the world, built this country and made it great.

Now I am ashamed to live in a country that elected a draft-dodging, philandering president who knows no more about how to make America great than he knows about how to run one of his bankrupt casinos. He wants $6 billion of our money for his border wall to keep out the kind immigrants who are willing to work hard to achieve the American Dream for themselves and their family.

These are the people who will make America great again, not some spoiled, ego-driven frat boy who thinks he can run this country from his Twitter account.

Don Brasted-Maki

Eugene