I am writing this letter to the editor in response to a number of recent articles that have appeared in the newspaper regarding the current influx of immigrants from other countries to Portland and Mayor Ethan Strimling’s “bring them on” response.

First, I, as most Portlanders, am sympathetic to their plight. Many of us have similar stories with regard to our grandparents fleeing violence and oppression in their native countries. I know my grandparents had to endure pogroms in Russia before immigrating to America.

The city’s budget and, correspondingly, its taxes have been increasing without limit for years now. With regard to this matter, help is needed from both surrounding communities and the state. The mayor’s attitude to this problem has created a self-manufactured crisis that is not fair to the immigrants or the taxpayers in the city of Portland.

To invite an influx of immigrants to Portland when the mayor knows that the funds to deal with this are not in place is, to me, irresponsible as best and damaging to his own cause at worst. The mayor seems to think that the city can accept any number without bound – 1,000, 2,000, 5,000. At what point do we say, “We’ve done our fair share”? Portland cannot unilaterally bear the entire burden.

It seems to me the mayor needs to balance the needs (and costs) of accepting a large influx of immigrants with the needs of the other residents in Portland, such as the elderly who are living on fixed incomes (there are certainly many in my City Council district, District 3) and cannot afford to see their Social Security cost-of-living increase being eaten up by ever-increasing property taxes.

Sam Rosenthal

Portland

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