Letter: Let’s take care of our own poor, huddled masses

In response to Peter Schott’s Viewpoints letter posted in the Jan. 11 Cape Gazette where he remembers, “when we lived by what was on the base of the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free …,” I am concerned Mr. Schott is shortsighted.  He verbalizes that, “… we want to keep those yearning to be free away from us.”  He, as many others, fail to see why we need a border wall.

It is not to keep huddled masses out, it is to stop adding to the poor and hungry huddled masses who are living here now.

Currently in the United States there are millions of undocumented and poor people residing here. There are also millions of documented working-poor people struggling. There are millions of senior citizens who have outlived their resources in need of financial assistance. There are millions of citizens dependent on Social Security, Medicaid, and other social programs. Homelessness is at an all-time high. There are hungry children, adults and seniors in every community. Food lines get longer every year. 

There are millions of people who remain without any or adequate healthcare. Higher education continues to be out of reach for far too many citizens. 

All across the United States there is critically aging infrastructure, as in bridges, tunnels and roads. More and more state and local governments have huge non-discretionary overstretched budgets with unsustainable spending and debt.  We have a federal government which keeps raising the debt ceiling in order to keep existing programs and to pay the ever-rising interest on our accrued national debt.  We have an unfair annual three-quarter- trillion-dollar trade deficit.

These are just some of the financial complexities currently facing both our nation and our people.  We fiscally cannot afford nor sustain an open border policy. 

We need to have controls, not to keep people out, but to meet the needs of real people living here now whom we fail horribly.

How can we meet the needs of new undocumented poor people entering this country when we can’t meet the needs of millions of people living here now? 

We cannot ask the working poor or socially dependent poor to sacrifice more. There are just not enough funds to sustain existing programs, let alone support additional people who wish to enter without means to support themselves. 

When the Statue of Liberty was raised, we were not a nation crippled by both personal and national debt, nor were we dependent on foreign imports. There were no mass murders and no drug wars.   

Some people seem to have prioritized the needs of people trying to enter this country over those living in need here and now. There have been decades of broken promises while poverty levels increase annually. 

I am very proud to be an American citizen. I stand and salute my flag in respect for those who served and died for it. I thank our military, fire, police men and women for their service. I am grateful for our freedom; I vote and happily support those in need.  I was raised post-depression and post-world war.

We lived within our means and paid for things without credit cards. We repaired our shoes, toasters and TV sets, and we only borrowed what we could pay back. Yes, I agree Mr. Schott, America sure has changed.

Pam Stech
Lewes