Providing a helping hand to the newest refugees

Re the Oct. 1 online story, “Trump administration announces further slash in refugee program to historic low:” We were troubled that refugee admissions to the United States will be reduced for the fourth year in a row. Refugee Assistance Alliance is a South Florida nonprofit serving those who do not have established communities adjust to their new home. Since 2017, we have helped 154 arrivals from eight countries learn English, find work, get driver’s licenses, pay taxes, register for school and a myriad of other things.

Only 1 percent of the 26 million refugees worldwide will eventually, after years of vetting, be offered the chance to permanently resettle elsewhere, and they will have no choice in where they go. Of those, the United States historically resettles the most refugees. Nothing about them is unknown or uncertain by the time they arrive. Our resettlement system determines where they will be sent to live, and they must adapt to that place. In 2016, 42,232 refugees were resettled in South Florida; last year, that number was 8,846.

Nearly all of RAA’s clients are in physical, entrylevel jobs. Many have either graduated high school or gotten their GED, in English, since arriving. Most of the families arrived with young children who learned English quickly. Many of the women have stayed home while their children are young, but they talk about working in a few years and dream of starting small businesses — catering comes up frequently. Nothing is easy about the refugee experience. Many describe their first year as the toughest of their lives.

We hope one day America receives refugees the way it has in the past, but until then, reach out to our newest neighbors. Help them feel welcome and safe as we all wish to feel.

– M. Allison Insley-Madsen, president, board of trustees, Refugee Assistance Alliance,

Coral Gables

STILL RECKLESS

President Trump claims he has learned a lot about the virus now that he has it. Apparently, that does not include being more responsible in stopping the spread of the virus. To leave the hospital for a staged drive-by that could potentially jeopardize the health of aides and Secret Service staff who were compelled to participate demonstrates, once again, his self-absorbed carelessness.

It’s hard to imagine doctors treating him fully agreed with this publicity stunt, but then again, it’s often hard to imagine anyone who agrees with much of what Trump decides to do.

– Alan Billups, Fort Lauderdale

HAZARD A GUESS

Almost all media commentators have expressed regret that President

Trump and some members of his staff have tested positive for COVID-19. Despite that, some surely have had misgivings about the president’s cavalier attitude toward his own vulnerability, but there has been little public gloating in the media of the president’s attempts to ignore Mother Nature.

Imagine how our mocker-in-chief would behave had former Vice President Biden been infected, instead.

Would the president be able to resist tweeting on the apparent evidence of the uselessness of masks?

– Michael Peskoe,

Miami Beach

HIGH AND MIGHTY

As I attended mass remotely for the sixth straight month, adjusting to life turned upside down, I had this thought: President Trump should never again say what a great job he’s done managing the COVID-19 crisis.

He is the loudest and most visible sign of his own failure and his administration’s inability to get this pandemic under control. We must hold him accountable.

– Joan D. Page,

Palmetto Bay

U.S. TO THE RESCUE?

Re the Oct. 4 story “Venezuelans voting for Biden say they face social stigma, harassment:” To the Vivas family, and to all Venezuelan-American patriots, I thank you for your courage.

To all the Venezuelan ex-patriots who support the false notion that only President Trump can save Venezuela, this election is not about saving your country. It is about saving our own.

– Michael Conway,

Miami Beach

MUCH IN COMMON

The parallels between Hugo Chávez and President Trump are evident for all to see. Both gained power by stoking the fears and hatreds of their base. Once in power, both continues to fan these hatreds and divisions — with Russian help. Neither accepted the legitimacy of dissent, whether from the media, opposition parties, physicians and scientists or even from those within their own governments.

They (like Nicolás Maduro)

relentlessly crush opposition, pervert the law, mock those who speak independently and do all they can to persecute them. Their regimes are marked by corruption. Each undermined constitutional protections of their homelands.

I can only conclude the Miami Venezuelans who mock and threaten the Vivas family are the true

– Martin Terris, Miami

NO DICTATORS

Sixty years ago, I escaped a dictator. When Fidel Castro abolished the free press, the governmentsanctioned newspaper and daily speeches ended with the slogan:

(Motherland or Death). It was the end of the democratic republic that welcomed my parents and grandparents escaping another dictator, even scarier than Castro, who intoned another slogan:

(Germany over all).

The America I came to is now at risk. The beacon of freedom that welcomed me is run by a wanna-be dictator who negates the findings of science and treats minorities and the disabled as second-class citizens. It brings to mind that other fascist who built crematoriums to deal with them.

President Trump has declared he might not give up power if not reelected.

Isn’t there another name for this?

The main issue is not the economy or the virus. The economy will find its equilibrium; it always does. Science will find a cure for the virus.

The survival of our democracy, the one that welcomed Cubans when we sought shelter from a dictator, is the issue.

I’ll be damned if I help elect another one!

– Betty Heisler,

Aventura

NOT SO SHARP

The bad workman always blames his tools. President Trump has proven himself to be the worst workman. However, history will judge his advisors and his GOP enablers to be poor tools, indeed!

I pity their descendants.

– Jonathan Rose,

Miami Beach

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

As I drove by Killian Senior High Saturday afternoon, I noticed the school’s parking lot was almost full. Of course, I thought, school starts on Monday, and teachers are making last-minute preparations for opening day. I used to be one of those teachers. I can still feel the excitement of welcoming back my students after our long vacation.

But from what I have read and heard about how the in-person classes will be conducted, anxiety and worry are the words of the day. I worry for all involved in this noblest of endeavors.

I hoped to hear Gov. DeSantis endorse local measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by wearing masks, and to build on same in view of President Trump’s hospitalization. But the governor, like so many others, missed a teachable moment.

Health issues are safety issues, ultimately. Only a healthy family, community and nation can really be safe when faced with life’s unpredictable vicissitudes.

– Clara Vertes,

Kendall

STILL FIGHTING

I return to my car following my shift. I sanitize my hands, phone, keys, badge, the remaining contents of my pockets and, finally, my hands again. I remove my face shield, goggles, surgical mask and N95 mask, which I carefully store in a clean Tupperware container where I have been storing the same mask for more than six weeks.

I begin to pull the tape and Band-Aids off my face, and my phone sees enough of a resemblance to unlock. I am immediately confronted with a CNN update: President Trump is being airlifted to Walter Reed.

This is not a hoax, it never was. Wear your mask. Distance now so we can gather later.

I am an exhausted fourth-year medical student who has not seen her family since Christmas 2019.

– Carina Lorenzen,

Coral Gables

UPPER HAND

The Miami Marlins had an unfair advantage against the Chicago Cubs during last week’s Wild Card round. Miami has more experience playing in empty ballparks.

– Marshall Menachem,

Palm Beach Gardens