LETTER: On immigration

Dear editor, 

On one of my recent volunteer activities with Spokane Public Schools, I was happy to hear first-hand a school employee’s personal immigration story very similar to many I’ve heard in my 88 years but more recently drowned out by cruel lies about immigrants. 

She recounted how her father, who immigrated with her mother from Mexico, followed the seasonal agricultural crops throughout the Pacific Northwest in order to obtain full-time work with long hours. But he insisted that she stay in one place throughout her childhood to get a good education rather than accompany him to work in the fields for more income. He realized that a good education was the path toward her having a better life than he was experiencing. She told me how much she has appreciated this. And she has rewarded him by her attainment of a master's degree. 

Contrast this with the stories fabricated by Republican President and Vice President candidates Donald Trump and JD Vance to try to support their lies about immigrants. Many involve false claims that the immigrants we get in the U.S. are criminals. The truth is just the opposite: the crime rate among immigrants in the U.S., both documented and undocumented, is lower than that of those born in the U.S. (Brennan Center for Justice, “Debunking the Myth of the ‘Migrant Crime Wave,’” May 29, 2024). 

Norm Luther
Spokane, Wash. 

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