Editor,

I had to respond to the letter, “Immigrants illegally in U.S. should pay a price” from the Sept. 4 South Whidbey Record.

This epic starts with “My wife is foreign born…” and devolves into a family history of his and the many “foreign born” co-workers and friends who “came from all areas of the globe except South America.”

I guess the point of the letter is to show how “inclusive” the writer is. This writer is, of course, “native born American.”

I have to assume that all of these foreign-born people in his family tree had something to do with his being here and, of course, “native born American.” Lucky him.

My biggest issue with this missive from Mr. Brown, aside from the underlying disdain he seems to have for other humans who are not “native born” like him, is the falsity, “I do not like a lifetime of paying into Social Security, Medicare and other programs and not being able to collect the full benefits because assets in those programs are being withdrawn to support illegal immigrants and other Pork Barrel projects.”

Mr. Brown, if you are in America without papers, you cannot get Social Security or Medicare. This is a myth. This is the very “propaganda” you spoke of in your letter. I assume you got this specious information from watching right-wing political propaganda on television.

If you have undertaken the perilous journey to save your family by escaping political or drug cartel violence in South or Central America, I consider you a hero.

Read and learn about these places. I would recommend you read “Illegal People” by David Bacon. I think you’ll find that much of this violence stems from American political/economic policies.

To equate this life or death journey to a speeding ticket is beyond my grasp as a human being.

Dan Freeman

Clinton