Letters to the editor

Trump must now reunite every child with family

The world has reacted in outrage — as it should — to the news and images of young immigrant children being separated from their families on our southern border. This is a direct result of President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ implementation of that policy.

As I write this, it appears that even Trump has had second thoughts. So here’s my modest proposal:

Mr. Trump, cleaning up this mess means reuniting every young child with his or her family. I don’t care how hard that is or how long it takes. If forensic methods such as DNA testing are needed to successfully match parents with children, offer that free of charge and make sure all those in need get the word.

Lastly, you get to pay all expenses, for you own this from beginning to end.

— Rodney Thorn, San Jose

Time to ship Statue of Liberty back to France?

It’s sad, but not unexpected, to witness how this administration and its supporters could devolve to such levels of inhumanity in our treatment of people doing nothing but seeking a better life for their families, something that Americans-to-be have done for past 150 years.

This act of inhumanity can be only expressed through high levels of indifference on the grounds of them not being us. One should have no doubt that if these were Danes, Germans or the English escaping poverty and seeking a better life, our president would have rolled out the red carpet, seeking employment for them and integrating them into our society in a whisker of a breadth.

“Give me your tired, your poor … .” Come — but just make sure you are not from Honduras or other neighboring countries.

Perhaps its time to ship the Statue of Liberty back to France. — Shiraz Mahomed, Santa Clara

When will electorate reclaim our democracy?

President Trump is following a dangerous path by his documented repeated lying. Then dropping our country from the international nuclear agreement, promoting white supremacists and, the most appalling and insensitive action of all, holding children and babies hostage in cages to attempt to force Congress to finance his border wall.

The list is endless. How long before the electorate rises up to reclaim our democracy, our morals and the values we cherish and our parents’ parents cherished?

Unfortunately, the babies can’t vote, but we can!

— Susan Dillon, Morgan Hill

A good reason to fire Jeff Sessions

I hope I’m wrong, but the “zero tolerance” immigration program sure seems like a great excuse to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions to make way for a new attorney general with no need to be recused from the Robert Mueller investigation.

By doing something so outrageous as separating children from parents and housing them in cages, who will argue to defend Sessions when fired? In fact, it will have bipartisan support because it’s such an egregious perversion of American values. Well played, Mr. President.

But why would Sessions go along with this? Because he supports the Trump agenda, and he comes away as a hero to the far right. The speaking engagements, books, etc., will amply compensate him.

Win-win for both Trump and Sessions. Just wait and see.

— Todd Lowenstein, San Jose

Common Core — product of authoritarian process

Re: “Why parents struggle with Common Core math” (June 17):

Karen D’Souza explains lucidly why convoluted Common Core math stumps parents and many students as well. However, a larger question was left unanswered: Given that parents are their children’s first and most important teacher, why did this so-called reform not ease the way to parent-child cooperation in tackling math homework?

The answer is that the small group of foundation-funded theorists who concocted Common Core math and English standards behind closed doors in 2009 never wanted parents to have a say. Nor did they want classroom teachers in the loop: Only one classroom teacher was put on a 60-member standards’ working group.

Common Core completely bypassed local school boards, where parents can speak up, and nearly all state legislatures. So one of many reasons Common Core is an abomination is that it is the product of an authoritarian process.

— Robert Holland, senior fellow for education policy, Heartland Institute,

Arlington Heights, Illinois