Americans Need Civil Discourse Based On Facts
To the Editor:
In her recent letter Glynis Tietjen wrote a raging indictment of Democrats whom she asserts are urging treason in the military, are allowing immigrant children to be cruelly abused and violated, are enabling undocumented immigrants to rape and murder Americans, are choosing to give full welfare, housing, and health benefits to the undocumented immigrants, and are enabling radical Muslims to implement Sharia law. These charges are horrific and frightening. Fortunately, all these assertions are absurdly false and easily rebutted.
I can’t imagine how Ms. Tietjen would come to believe such nonsense unless she has bought into the never ending lies, obfuscations, and hallucinations of an obviously unwell President Trump and his circle of sycophants trying desperately to please him and deflect attention from the increasing cost of goods and services and, oh yeah, of course, President Trump’s troubling , long- time relationship with his good friend, Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile.
Well, Ms. Tietjen, You are wrong with these false claims about a huge number of your fellow Americans. Democrats are not traitors, they do not support child abuse, they do not enable radical Muslims to impose Sharia Law, and they do not attempt to fund illegal immigration. And, by the way, neither do Republicans, because all those actions would be illegal, and the overwhelming majority of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, want to do the right thing.
As I walk my little dog around our neighborhood I have gotten to know a number of folks who think Donald Trump is a good president. I very strongly disagree with these folks, but I know they are good people who want pretty much what all Americans want – safe neighborhoods, affordable housing, food, and medical care, and a government that works for them and not a few corrupt demagogues whose primary concern is how to increase their own wealth.
Although the Trump administration describes immigration enforcement as an effort to deport “rapists, thieves, and murderers,” recent data tell a very different story. In 2024–2025, the majority of people ICE detained—about two-thirds to three-quarters— had no criminal record, and almost all had no violent-crime history. Many of the rest were detained for minor or nonviolent offenses. ICE also mistakenly detains U.S. citizens each year due to identification errors, a problem repeatedly highlighted in investigations. Overall, ICE’s actions focus far more on immigrationstatus issues—and sometimes wrongly on citizens—than on removing violent criminals.
Ms. Tietjen argues that Biden “did nothing” about crime while Trump is singlehandedly fixing it. Nope, not true. Violent crime, including murder, began falling sharply in 2023, and has continued to decline. The improvement in public safety began well before the current administration, contrary to Ms Tietjen’s claims Another false claim by Ms. Tietjen was that Democrats have supported widespread violent protests. Careful studies of the 2020 racial-justice demonstrations show that more than 93 percent were peaceful. There were riots in some cities, and those are not acceptable, but it is false to proclaim that all those demonstrations were violent. No responsible party leader promotes political violence. Ah, well there was a leader on Jan 6, 2001 who urged his fired-up supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.”And toAmerica’s historical shame that’s just what those insurrectionists did at the order of their president.
Ms. Tietjen’s claims about migrant children are very troubling. It is true that both the Trump and Biden administrations struggled to keep up with record numbers of minors arriving alone. But the widely repeated idea that “over 100,000 children are missing” misrepresents how the system works. Government officials make follow-up calls after children are placed with sponsors. When a sponsor doesn’t answer, the child is counted as “unreachable,” not missing. That number grew during periods of high migration and overwhelmed caseworkers, but there is no evidence—under either administration—that tens of thousands of children disappeared or were trafficked. Likewise, sponsors are not “never vetted.” Federal policy has long required background checks on sponsors and other adults in the household, though the thoroughness of these checks has varied.
The letter also spoke of “radical Muslims” imposing Sharia law across the country. This is a persistent myth loved by the MAGA bunch. For the record, the U.S. Constitution prevents any religious law— Muslim, Christian, or otherwise— from replacing civil law. The Founders were determined, based on the historical and tragic consequences of theocratic rule. that church and state must be separate.
Finally, the idea that immigrants come here to receive free housing, food, and health care is a favorite myth of the Far Right. They are certain that all those brown hordes of people with small children from the south seeking to escape poverty and danger are here just for the freebies. Yeah, right. These MAGA folks seem to wonder what radical misfit would say you should welcome the stranger. What woke socialistic snowflake would urge us to do for the least of these. And share. Hey, I got mine, let them get theirs. Who would believe such nonsense?
Actually, undocumented immigrants are ineligible for federal welfare programs except for emergency healthcare. However, at the same time, they contribute tens of billions of dollars in taxes each year, money that helps fund programs many will never be able to use. Hey, if compassion and empathy don’t move you, think about your pocketbook.
I believe we would all profit from a more civil and respectful discourse grounded in facts as we struggle to find solutions to very complicated problems. Respectful debate is needed, not hateful, unfounded accusations. Surely it would be useful to stop thinking of ourselves as liberals or conservatives, Democrats or Republicans, but rather as Americans who agree on much more than we disagree on.
Bill Balch La Grange