Letters to the editor for Tuesday, July 3

Nunes’ silence speaks much

Just read your article on the silence of Rep. (Devin) Nunes on the separation of families looking for asylum in the states. As we watch what is happening especially to the children, we dry our eyes in shame for how this can happen here in the U.S.

I assume that with Mr. Nunes’ silence, he is saying that it is now time for someone new to represent us in Congress, and he’ll now have time to hug his children for days on end.

Nation based on rule of law

I am puzzled by the response of some people to the situation on the border. We are a society based on the rule of law, and not the whim of whoever encounters those who invade our country.

As such it seems to me they should be treated in exactly the same way we treat citizens and foreign nationals arrested here for larceny, manufacturing meth (methamphetamine), child abuse, etc. These people are deprived of contact with their children after their arrest and Child Protective Services houses the children until they are placed in foster care. Some are never reunited.

We certainly don’t detain the children in the same facilities where the alleged law-breaker is placed. Oddly, that is now what the president has authorized because people complained loudly about the separation of children from their presumed parents. I now suspect that because the courts ruled in the Flores case in 1997 that children can’t be detained for more than 20 days in an adult facility, the same people who wanted them locked up with their parents will now reverse course and demand that the children be placed in separate facilities away from adult criminals.

Frankly, I think a better solution would be to release each child to a sponsor who would post a bond of $10,000 per child, said amount to be forfeited if the sponsor fails to report the whereabouts of the child on a monthly basis (and submit to an unannounced inspection of the residence) until such time as the child is reunified with his or her parents, when all of them are deported as a family to their country of origin.

Audra earned her Fresno honors

Kudos to the Fresno Unified School District for naming the Roosevelt High School theater in honor of Audra McDonald, as well as the city of Fresno for changing over a downtown street to Audra McDonald Way. This multitalented performer certainly deserves all of her many accolades having won six Tony Awards, two Grammys and an Emmy.

We had the pleasure of attending Audra’s sold-out concert at the Saroyan Theater on May 26th. She was outstanding as well as was the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra. Thank you, Audra, for making your hometown so proud of you. Please come back and perform for us again, and perhaps at a larger venue such as Selland Arena or SaveMart Center.

A farmer’s rare voice praised

At a time when it seems most people within the agricultural industry are unwilling to criticize any policy put forth by the Trump administration, it is profoundly heartening to find a farmer who will denounce the current border detention program for what it is – the exploitation and dehumanization of a powerless population, solely for political purposes. Thank you, Mr. Morita, (Stan Morita, June 22 in the Bee) for sharing your empathy, your humanity and your courage with us. It does give one hope for our future.