Anti-Immigrant Illogic

In response to Brian Palmer’s Feb. 28 letter (“Goodnight America”), I must say I am impressed by the sheer lack of logic in his argument.

Palmer appears to suggest that if we continue to let immigrants come into the U.S., then we will “turn in the U.S. into a Third World dump.” Seems like a massive leap to make, not to mention an incredibly ignorant one. He paints a dark picture filled with “maggot infested slums” and “gangs of rapists and thieves,” as though immigrants are the sole causes of these problems.

What Palmer fails to realize is that the root cause of these deplorable conditions is structural, and far more often the result of gentrification, an unequal distribution of wealth, corrupt governmental figures and many more issues — none of which directly involve immigrants.

Also, what about all of the U.S.-born citizens who are rapists, thieves, murderers, racists and bigots? He says “immigrants” as though it’s a dirty word, as though they are less-than human, and this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Our country and economy would completely collapse without immigrants and the extremely labor-intensive jobs they perform, though many lazy, entitled and prejudiced Americans continue to deny this fact.

Instead of ridding the country of immigrants, I suggest we weed out people like Palmer, who prefer blaming others for the ails of this country instead of taking a hard look at themselves. 

Kendra Hurtado

Eugene