Rep. Chellie Pingree has a lot of nerve to complain. It is her job to fix our broken immigration system. Instead, she’s playing party politics at the peril of this nation. What I don’t hear from Ms. Pingree are any solutions.

No one wants children separated from their parents. When crossing the border lawfully, children are not separated from their caretaker. One has to ask why people sneak across U.S. borders illegally, placing their children at risk.

Many children crossing U.S. borders illegally are unaccompanied by a parent. Many are at the mercy of unscrupulous individuals.

A Border Patrol agent recently told CNN that young girls arrive at the U.S. border in possession of Plan B pills, as it is assumed they will be raped on their journey here. Others enter the U.S. in unventilated tractor-trailer trucks, not all of them alive when they reach their destination. Unaccompanied teenage boys arrive illegally with no place to go, making it easy for gangs like MS-13 to recruit them.

Children entering the U.S. illegally are dependent on public assistance funded by U.S. taxpayers. School budgets are stretched to the limit to accommodate their needs.

Vilifying hardworking Border Patrol agents and public officials trying to keep the U.S. safe is not the answer. Presenting all minors at the border as innocent toddlers is a gross misrepresentation.

Democrats don’t care about the children. Their main objective is to win seats in 2018. Family separation is a repugnant policy of both parties. We as taxpayers must demand solutions from our public officials and stop reacting to whatever Pavlovian bell is being rung at the moment.

Catherine Ferrell

Greene