Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Decision To Ban Burkas Sparks Outrage
A security risk we face right here is pointed up in the article by Jamie Dettmer about an Italian city’s ban on any clothing that could obscure a person’s identity [“Italian Mayor’s Decision To Ban Burkas Sparks Outrage,” Foreign, September 28, 2004].
Ever since September 11, 2001, I have been advocating a law prohibiting face coverings in public places. This is because of the need to immediately identify people for security reasons in this time of Islamist terrorism.
Shortly after September 11, a telling incident occurred in San Francisco airport on the security inspection line before entering the plane. The person behind me wore a piece of cloth tied around the head and under the eyes, hanging down, obscuring the entire face.
I told the security guard who said that the person would have to remove the face covering. And that is what did happen. If a security breech occurred, there would be no means of identifying this person. Security must prevail over all other considerations in these times.
CAROL LYONS
Irvington, N.Y.
‘Three-Way Race’
I am confident that The New York Sun’s labeling of Republican state senatorial candidate John Fleming as “anti-immigrant” is an aberration [“Three-Way Race,” Editorial, September 17, 2004].
Mr. Fleming’s grandparents on both sides were immigrants from County Kerry, Ireland. His wife’s parents came from County Roscommon and County Cork, also in Ireland. He has many friends and supporters in the tri-state Irish immigrant community.
In addition, as an NYPD detective, he has worked side by side with newly minted Americans from many lands, as well as with the children of such immigrants. Indeed, it is hard to see how Mr. Fleming or anybody else could even exist, never mind prosper, in the New York City area while being anti-immigrant.
The polls consistently show that the political elites in Washington, and in state governments across the Union, are totally out of touch with the American people on the subject of immigration. I suspect that Mr. Fleming, like the vast majority of Americans, believes that immigration should be controlled, regulated, and balanced.
American immigration policy must be based on the economic, security, and foreign policy interests of our country. The “golden door” should always remain open for those who want to contribute, and who can, and will, culturally assimilate. It is laudable to celebrate one’s native culture, but not to the extent that it prevents the immigrant from successfully assimilating.
In the interests of our foreign policy, and out of respect for the cultural foundations of our nation, we need to reintroduce balance to our immigration system. The ill-conceived Kennedy Immigration Act of 1965 effectively shut out immigrants from the old seed countries. The resulting weakening of links with Europe has led to an estrangement that manifests itself in an increasing failure of Europeans to appreciate America in its true form.
We should endeavor to accept immigrants from all areas of the world, but we must reintroduce a balance to our immigration policy that will revitalize the links with Europe and acknowledge our allies and ideological soul mates.
The primary obligation of any democratic government is the safety and security of its people. The vast majority of illegal immigrants mean no harm to America. However, it is in the illegal immigration pool that the terrorist and fifth-columnist sharks swim and find sustenance. The only way of killing the sharks is to drain the pool.
In that regard, it is incomprehensible that our government has not implemented the commonsensical security measure of a moratorium on visa issuance to de jure and de facto terrorist sponsors like Saudi Arabia and other Islamofascist countries.
Three years after September 11, 2001, it is incredible that there are still many in the left-wing establishment who cry because commonsensical anti-terrorist measures, like denying drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants, are being implemented.
Supporting a commonsensical, controlled, and regulated immigration policy that reflects our security, economic- and foreign-policy interests is our patriotic duty as American citizens, especially after September 11. It is not anti-immigrant. Indeed, it is pro-American. As Mr. Fleming understands, our elected and putative leaders have a higher standard of patriotic duty, in this regard, than the private citizen.
PATRICK HURLEY
President
Regular Republican Club
30th Assembly District
Woodside, N.Y.
Crossing the Aisle
Josh Gerstein’s Page 1 article reminded me that the famous Greek philosopher Diogenes would have been able to end his search for an honest independent Democrat after listening to Senator Miller’s speech at the Republican National Convention [“Zell Miller Spurns Democrats, Calls Kerry ‘Weak…Wobbly,’ ” September 2, 2004].
It is becoming increasingly rare in a partisan Congress for anyone to cross the isle to support ideas or candidates from the opposition party.
Independent conservative Democrats are no longer comfortable with their party platform and ideology which is clearly liberal to extreme liberal.
There is ample room in the GOP’s big tent for the millions of moderate-to-conservative Democrats whose views and ideas which have become alien to current politically correct Democratic Party orthodoxy.
LAWRENCE PENNER
Great Neck, N.Y.
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