Writer: Trump’s policies are taking America ‘backward’

Dear editor: President Trump has revived the practice of separating small, immigrant children from their parents. His first administration seized over 5,000 immigrant children to discourage other immigrants from entering the United States. A federal judge halted the practice in 2018. Five years later some of those families have still not been reunited. The Trump administration claims the judge’s decision in 2018, prohibiting separation at the border, does not pertain to its current practice of taking children from their parents inside the U.S. A current example of this policy is a couple fleeing Russia and the wrath of Putin. They have been given the choice of reuniting with their 8-year-old son after six months of separation only if they return to Russia. Certain imprisonment under harsh conditions or a death sentence awaits them if they return. They will be imprisoned with continued separation if they remain in the US.

I would ask when this country lowered its standards to the point of having the government abduct children, but we all know part of the answer. This is only the latest ‘black eye’ Donald Trump has delivered to this country. He ordered food and medical aid delivered through USAID stopped, altering our foreign policy from one of compassion to greed, causing the deaths of thousands of people. His halt of medical research into a wide variety of diseases will negatively affect the future of health care for all of us. His EPAwill no longer limit harmful emissions into the air. He has attempted to shut down universities and dictate what children learn in school. There are innumerable other examples of ineptitude due to ignorance, greed, or malice.

While greed and ignorance account for part of why the reputation of this country is being sullied, an equally menacing partner in crime is the complacency of congress. We would not have inflationary tariffs, child separation, attacks on the sciences, and a plethora of other Trump induced embarrassing, harmful actions if congress had even the hint of a backbone. Instead of addressing any of the many activities that are, or will be, harmful to his constituents, our congressman brags about signing a letter telling Canada to control its wildfires.

My heart aches when I see what congress is allowing Trump to do to this strong and beautiful country. I wonder how far must we go backward; how low must we sink as a nation before we realize what we had, what we still have and what we can easily lose to the erratic whims of a narcissistic, senile old man if we do not join together and demand a stop to this madness.

Unity