Biden's immigration order banning asylum seekers is inhumane

As a representative of one of the main Chicago legal organizations on the front lines of supporting people arriving in our city from the U.S.-Mexico border, I disagree with the Editorial Board’s statement that President Joe Biden’s newest rule restricting access to asylum “is working for Chicago.”

The new asylum ban rule is inhumane and violates international and U.S. laws protecting people’s right to seek asylum, which is why the National Immigrant Justice Center is among the organizations suing to block it.

As the Democratic Party prepares to celebrate the president’s legacy during its Chicago convention, we must not let our city be used to celebrate inhumane politics that put lives in danger.

Here is what has worked in Chicago: community members and legal and social services providers coming together, with support from the city and state governments, to develop creative solutions to humanely welcome newcomers.

While the collective response has not been perfect, every week more of our new neighbors are finding stability and taking steps toward financial independence and legal status.

We could do so much more if the federal government, instead of pouring billions into enforcing punitive and unlawful policies, chose to invest in repairing our country’s immigration processing and court systems, and stepped in to coordinate reception and welcoming services among the federal and local governments and community organizations.

Legal service providers, like NIJC, with decades of experience in asylum and immigration law, stand ready to continue our response. We hope for the public and private resources we need to assist people seeking protection. The more quickly people can access legal services, the more we alleviate the strain on public systems.

If the drop in the number of newcomers arriving in Chicago is indeed a result of a drop in the number of asylum-seekers being able to enter the U.S., that only means more people are being trapped in dangerous and abusive conditions at the border or being sent back to the places they fled.

After witnessing Chicagoans’ caring response to welcoming asylum-seekers over the past two years, I doubt many in our city would agree this is the solution we’d hoped for.

Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director, National Immigrant Justice Center

Border order is too late

Regarding the executive order by President Joe Biden to limit the number of illegal border crossings, in my opinion, it’s too little too late.

Even the mayor, who was a boisterous supporter of his “sanctuary city” policy when it was politically advantageous for him, has realized the free flow of illegal immigrants is unsustainable.

The damage has been done, and the president's last-minute change of plans so close to the election is a hollow gesture.

In my opinion, Vice President Kamala Harris should be held responsible for this disaster, too.

Tony LaMantia, Logan Square

Quantum campus doesn’t compare to new Bears stadium

Huh? It's hard to understand that a Chicagoan (Andrew Burnham in July 31 letters to the editor) conflates a possible taxpayer-funded Bears for-profit stadium with the quantum research campus at the former U.S. Steel South Works site.

Sports stadiums rarely pay a return on public investment. Research at Argonne and Fermilab have enriched the world, and their staff have vastly and permanently enriched Illinois' communities. PsiQuantum would continue that tradition.

Beth Najberg, Gold Coast

Trump’s act is old

After watching the comic-tragic performance by former President Donald Trump at the Black journalists' convention in Chicago on July 31, may I suggest he hire a speech coach?

He doesn’t need acting lessons (consummate actor and liar). He could use a new hair and makeup artist, but definitely he needs a speech coach.

The way he said he didn’t know that Vice President Kamala Harris was half-Black was demeaning and insulting. And he can’t even pronounce her name.

He’s scared. He’s freaked out and trying to make a joke out of his impending loss.

Felicia Carparelli, New East Side

Trump plays the victim

So once again, when faced with his past statements, Donald Trump plays the victim. The journalists were mean to him. They were rude. They asked hard questions. This is how he tries to spin everything — by blaming others for what he says. What is scary are the crowds that buy into his role as a victim. There is a sucker born every minute.

Peter Felitti, Ravenswood

Trump defeats himself

If Donald Trump's handlers guide his public remarks for best effect, once at the microphone, he disregards their no doubt constructive advice and reverts to his normal bull-in-a-china-shop performance, losing more ground the more he talks.

The latest example was at this week's National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago, no less, where most speakers who think as he does would try at least to appear diplomatic.

As someone whose psychological makeup disdains people who happen not to be white, he comes off as a world-class bigot. It seems he simply can't help himself. The word "diplomacy" is a concept impossible for him to understand or pull off.

All his detractors need to do is play back his own words, which say it all. Haters must love to hear him speak, the way he hews to the hater script of denigrating anyone not white, even when he says he's being cordial.

Public speaking instructors need only play tapes of Trump speaking to convey to students how not to score points in debates: He defeats himself.

Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park