Hold candidates accountable for silence

The fourth estate owes it to the public to help hold political candidates accountable for their positions or silence on critical issues.

The earth-shattering silence of Republican candidates to their leader’s repeated attacks on immigrants should not be simply ignored. In the presidential debate, Mr. Trump referred 12 times to millions of people pouring into our country. He added that they come from “prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums,” that “They are taking over our towns. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently … … And they are destroying our country. They’re dangerous. They’re at the highest level of criminality. And we have to get them out.”

Candidates who identify with Mr. Trump should be asked, point blank, “do you agree with Mr. Trump on his virulent attacks on immigrants? Do you agree that millions of people are pouring into our country, even 21 million monthly he said, to be specific? Do you believe that immigrants are taking over our towns, eating our pets and destroying our country?”

Is it not time to push these candidates beyond their face-turning silence?

Martin Deppe

Chicago