Migrant situation is overwhelming available resources
To the editor:
The conditions at the immigration camps are not unexpected, at least not to me. I was a crew member of a Coast Guard cutter during the Haitian migrant crisis. We would come across a grossly overloaded Haitian boat and have to off-load the people to our flight deck for the trip to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
We had to erect a special tent, but even during the few days it took to ferry the Haitian migrants, it was clear that this was not a comfortable situation for them. While they were fed and had access to water and toilets, it was an impossible risk to the crew to allow the few hundred people we hosted on the flight deck access to showers. And, clearly, the migrants didn’t come packed with soap and toothbrushes so our typical American sanitation sensitivities weren’t addressable in such a situation. The migrants outnumbered us and could clearly have overwhelmed us had they been of such a mind.
It is impossible for the immigration services to cope with such an influx of migrants. If the government hasn’t the resources to address the accommodation, sanitation and familial issues of the migrants, the proper thing for Congress to do is to legislate the expulsion of the illegal migrants that exceed our capacity. These individuals can be just as destitute and desperate on the Mexican side of the border as they can in the United States. We have other immigration issues that need attention like the English speaking DACA youth and the illegal immigrants gainfully contributing to the economy already within our borders.
Thank you for letting me get up on my soap box.
Jim Fitz-Gerald
Cape Coral