Letter writer should not blame Durbin

Dick Stack's letter to the editor on July 20 unfairly and inaccurately places the blame for the current border crisis on Sen. Dick Durbin and his role in the Senate's "Gang of Eight" proposal for immigration reform.

To the contrary, Sen. Durbin and his Senate colleagues should be commended as the only ones in Washington seeking a bipartisan solution to the immigration situation, something Speaker John Boehner has refused to even consider by failing to put the issue to a floor vote.

The truth is that passing immigration reform here in the United States would help the current border crisis as it would free up more judges to adjudicate the asylum cases for the tens of thousands of vulnerable children fleeing the violence in their home countries, many of whom face threats of violence, sexual assault and possible death if returned.

Most of the refugees at the southern border come from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala - three countries contending with severe violence, impunity, and complicity and corruption within their governments. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has found that almost 60 percent of children fleeing to the U.S. from these countries may have a valid claim to asylum or other legal protection. Nor is the U.S. the only country to which these children are escaping. The UNHCR states that the number of asylum applications from the affected countries filed in Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Belize has increased by 712 percent since 2008.

The current border crisis is a humanitarian crisis, not a result of immigration reform efforts. It's a shame that one of the few legislators working to find solutions to both of these issues is being unfairly blamed by those who seem to have no proposed solutions for either.

Shirley Sadjadi

Elgin