Readers React: The U.S., with 11 million undocumented immigrants, doesn’t deserve refugee criticism

To the editor: There has been much criticism of the United States lately by some who believe we are not taking in our fair share of refugees from Syria and other war-torn nations of the Middle East and Africa. (“10,000 Syrian refugees isn’t enough — the U.S. should admit more,” editorial, Sept. 11)

Although it’s fine to debate how many such refugees the United States should take in from these regions, what the rest of the world must remember is that according to the Department of Homeland Security, there are about 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States. Most of these individuals are from south of the border and are not fleeing from war-torn countries but rather are settling here to make a better life for themselves and their families.

The United States is doing its fair share in serving as a home for those fleeing their countries. It’s just difficult for the government to document exactly how many of them there are, or who they are.

Shari O’Connell, Santa Monica

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To the editor: The Hungarians hostile to Syrian refugees should have some empathy, given the atrocities their country suffered during World War II. Also, in 1956, an uprising in Hungary led to Soviet military action, leaving thousands of refugees being resettled in 37 countries.

If Hungary feels it must build a wall on its border and ignore the plight of desperate families, it should be expelled from the European Union. In the face of this crisis, Hungary should be ashamed of itself.

Teresa Dulley, Playa del Rey

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To the editor: I too am grateful to European countries for opening the doors to refugees fleeing war, terror and rape. But should we not also ask why these people are fleeing Iraq and Syria and Yemen in such numbers at such personal risk?

Some critical self-examination is in order as we, comfortably ensconced behind the twin moats of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, read these tales of horror. Such scrutiny will reveal our own culpability in destabilizing these nation states and making life hell for the common people.

Therefore, I suggest that all the refugees be housed in U.S. military bases in Europe, of which there are many, from Kosovo to Britain, from Spain to Germany.

And the American soldiers, whose presence has become a redundant nuisance in Europe, can come home to rebuild our country’s imperiled infrastructure.

Hari Vishwanadha, Santa Monica

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To the editor: Let’s leave aside the more-than-obvious irony of unwanted refugees boarding trains bound for Austria. I’ll leave that to Mel Brooks. No amount of apples and bananas handed out at train stations will erase the memory of what Germany has done. (“Germany’s open-door policy in migrant crisis casts nation in a new light,” Sept. 7)

But I wonder if Germans understand at all. Here’s a magazine editor in Berlin quoted in The Times’ story: “We are haunted by the ghosts and demons of the nationalistic era of the

19th century that in one way or another laid the ground for the two world wars.”

Laid the ground?

Germany started a war, and the rest of the world had to fight tooth and nail to prevent the unleashing of a psychopathic Third Reich that was much more than a “nationalistic era.” If Germany had won, I don’t think it would be the smugly offered haven that it is so proud of now.

These euphemisms are fooling nobody.

Jane Warden, Malibu

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