US needs better immigration policies
To the editor,
I watched a speech by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. Since being elected in 2019, he has taken El Salvador from being the “Murder Capital of the World” to being the most crime free country in the Western Hemisphere. Bukele was able to accomplish this through mass incarceration of criminal gang members, many of whom came from the US.
In his speech, Bukele attributes the former lawlessness of his country to past failed US immigration policies. In the 1980s, thousands of Central Americans were allowed to illegally immigrate into the US to avoid civil war or poverty.
Like today, there were no organized government programs to house, feed or provide jobs for these refugees. Many such immigrants settled where drug gangs recruited many of them and their children. By the late 90s, many US cities practically became war zones, and the federal government deported thousands of these US made hardened criminals back home. These deportees used the only skills they learned in America to establish the drug gangs that have been terrorizing numerous Central American countries for the last two decades.
We are setting up an even worse disaster by now allowing millions of illegal immigrants to enter the US again without plans to house, feed or employ them. Some politicians are already suggesting that we may again have to deport thousands of violent immigrants. Our lack of an organized immigration policy may again create a domestic crime wave and destabilize many more countries throughout the world.
Ted Sirois
Saco
The Legislature must prioritize supporting our first responders
To the editor,
Maine’s first responders are vital to our communities and make sacrifices to help others. Our firefighters, police officers, dispatchers and other EMS professionals endure demanding, often traumatizing experiences. As lawmakers, we must prioritize supporting those who respond to our communities’ emergencies by making mental health assistance services more accessible.
We know that there are specialized blood tests that can help identify the latent health issues and mental health assistance that can provide emotional support for these professionals, yet these services are often unattainable for many. After working with the Saco chief of pPolice and Maine Municipal Association, I sponsored LD 1857, a Resolve to Establish a Public Safety Health and Wellness Grant Pilot Program.
This proposal would set up a pathway for a healthy future for first responders. With a one-time appropriation of $2 million, the legislation would create a two-year pilot program to better fund the well-being of our state’s public safety workers. The measure is currently awaiting final approval from the Legislature’s budget-setting committee.
Showing our first responders that we care by investing in their health is more than just an investment in our state’s workforce — it’s the right thing to do. I hope my colleagues in the Legislature will enact this vital initiative to make physical and mental health services more accessible. It is far past time that we do more to reciprocate the care our public safety workers so selflessly give out.
Rep. Lynn Holland Copeland
District 130, Saco (part)
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