Immigration solution needs bi-partisanship

The New Year’s Eve letter by Mr. Pathan entitled “Legal immigrants also are targeted” should be chosen as Letter Of The Year.

Immigration is not Biden’s but rather every single president’s fault leading up to the present. No one wants to work together to solve the problem. One party fears the other getting all the credit.

They just want to use immigration as the perennial issue to run a campaign on.

It’s not just how to humanely return illegal immigrants to their perspective countries, it’s how to develop a timely path toward entering legally and do what is required to become a citizen.

In addition, there is the issue of nonacceptance even when one does everything right, as illuminated by Mr. Pathan’s account of his own family’s experiences. Has this country historically treated people of different nationalities who do enter legally with kindness? No. Has this country treated people of different faiths equally? No.

It seems like in history, every nationality that is deemed “other” has its turn being targeted. My Sicilian second great-grandfather who came here legally was lynched in Louisiana because Italian non-Protestants were stigmatized and hated there.

Native Americans, African Americans, Irish, Italian, Indian, Mexican, Jewish etc. every nationality gets its turn being stigmatized. Why? Because there is a strong irrational fear of being supplanted by a different culture or faith.

There are multiple issues to solve. Humanely returning those who are here illegally, developing a timely path toward citizenship, and then treating those who are finally here legally with kindness, and replacing irrational fear with friendship.

These are things that require bipartisan cooperation overseen by a president who works across the aisle and does not rule by division. I hope the incoming administration is willing to embrace that.

Louis S. Guagenti

Arlington Heights