A recent editorial talked of significant differences between the Trump administration and the Congress on immigration (“Our View: Confused message from feds on immigration,” Oct. 15, Page A4).
In my view, there is no confusion. The Trump administration is doing the right thing by having asylum seekers apply for asylum in the first country they come to, or at U.S. Consulates in their home countries.
The editorial cites Sen. Susan Collins as supportive of federal funding for the recent arrivals because, in her words, “a national crisis requires a national solution.”
While the outpouring of support for the asylum seekers is understandable, it is never acknowledged that only a small percentage are granted asylum, making the Trump administration’s policy necessary.
The Executive Office of Immigration Review, the agency that overseas immigration courts, repeatedly shows that only 13 of 100 of those claiming credible fear are granted asylum. The rest, for various reasons, do not.
We are, in effect, granting the majority of asylum seekers de facto amnesty, something that the administration is justly trying to stop, and Sen. Collins should be supporting President Trump in this matter.
Robert Casimiro
Bridgton
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