March 24, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette When I hear the current administration talk about the “dangerous immigrants” coming across the U.S. borders, I question this statement. My grandparents on my mother’s side came to the United States around 1914. They left their home, a small village outside of Kiev, and traveled here because it was dangerous at the time in their country for them … being Jewish. They left their home and family hoping for a safer, better life. They came to America with few possessions and very little money. They lived with relatives, found jobs, and worked hard to make a better life for themselves and eventually for their future family.
My father was born in the Philippines. His father was in the U.S. military and stationed in the Philippines where he met his wife, my grandmother. She was born in Romania, but her family came from a small village outside of Kiev. They moved to China when my dad was 3 years old. After the Japanese invasion began, it was no longer safe to live there. In China, they had a nice home with servants but had to leave everything behind to flee the country. They lived with relatives and saved money to purchase a small grocery store. My dad helped by delivering newspapers in the morning before school and in the afternoons after school. My grandfather and grandmother both worked to provide for their family.
All the immigrants that I have met over the years have been good, decent, hard-working people who contribute to the community. To dehumanize people by labeling them as “rapists, murders and drug dealers” is not only grossly unfair and inhumane … it is not true! Remember, everyone who lives in America has families who immigrated here at one time or another, unless they are indigenous. CINDY MILLER Rockbridge County
