Lee Levin’s article “Allegory of the Southern Border” (July 11) is deeply offensive and misleading and serves as a unique window into the minds of those who are OK with the Trump administration’s horrific mistreatment of immigrant children and adults at the border. He helps me understand the lies people tell themselves that underpin this point of view.
Were Mr. Levin’s parents or grandparents or great-grandparents immigrants? If so, in what way is the arrival of the “many men screaming and pounding on my door” any different from the arrival of his own family, or ours, seeking safety and a better life? His own have been in the “house” longer. That is all.
This “house” does not belong to any individual. And we share a collective responsibility for the well-being of those who arrive here after we do. That responsibility comes with the privilege of citizenship.
Mr. Levin, no one is going to die if immigrants are treated humanely and with compassion at the border.
Real children are already dying there — it is no allegory.
The true risk is that more children and adults will suffer and die each day if we fail to address this crisis. Our country’s ideals will die with them.
Sarah Fremerman Aptilon
Overland Park, Kansas
