Letters to the Editor

MS-13 Gang Member

I am morally offended by the headline in the May 2 Beachcomber: “Congressman Garcia Advocates for the Return of MS-13 Gang Member,” is false and inflammatory. Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration. There was no due process and no factual evidence that he was in a gang. His history is clear. He was never a member of the notorious gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13),

An article in the New York Times on May 4, Garcia’s mother describes threats to the family. “‘They (Abrego Garcia’s family) will appear in black bags,’” his mother said through tears, recalling phone messages from the gang. Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador because his life was threatened by MS-13.

The attack on Congressperson Robert Garcia is completely out of line. Garcia is one of the few Democrats who are standing up to Trump’s attack on democracy, due process and the Constitution.

President Trump believes he is above the law. Trump has demonstrated disregard for the Constitution deporting American children and further, he has demonstrated unconscionable brutality by deporting a child in need of cancer treatments.

What we need according to David Brooks’ opinion piece in the New York Times and the Twin Cities Pioneer Press is a civic uprising. We must resist the attack on our fragile democracy before it is too late.

Marshall Blesofsky

[Editor Note: The writer failed to mention that the words “MS-13 Gang Member” in the headline were in quotes, which accurately reflected the opposition’s viewpoint.]

I am a shocked to learn the news of our elected congressman Robert Garcia and some of his Democratic colleagues’ interest in attempting to return a known member of a violent Mexican MS-13 gang – like Kilmar Abrego Garcia – back into our society after being deported to his country of birth, El Salvador.

Previously I had seen President Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavit, describe him as violent to the point where even this individual’s own wife had even placed a restraining order against him fearing for the safety of her own life around him.

What part of a danger to others, unwanted or undesirable, does Robert Garcia fail to understand here? Additionally, I really have to ask what the people of the 42nd Congressional District what they were thinking of when they elected Robert Garcia, a Peruvian immigrant to the House of Representatives to represent them?

I am confident that if the majority of those who previously supported Garcia knew of his desire to bring this element, which the Trump Administration had deported due to his violent past, that they might think twice before re-electing Garcia to represent them again.

The Democratic Party may just have a case of sour grapes and cannot accept defeat. Their advocating to allow violent criminals who have clearly been deported for the safety of the public back into our society is a dangerous mistake.

Additionally, Garcia and his band of Democrat colleagues traveling to El Salvador to meet with this illegal alien comes out of our tax dollars, which we pay plenty of as is. What societal benefit allowing violent criminals back into our society is there? If these trips are to see about harboring violent illegal aliens gang members back into the United Staes, then maybe Congressman Garcia should be looking for employment elsewhere.

The whole idea of securing the international borders – amongst a number of other issues – is to keep the violent gang members from entering or re-entering our country. Maybe it would be a better idea for Congressman Robert Garcia, Senator Cory Booker, Maxwell Alejandro, Yassamin Ansari and Maxine Dexter and others of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus need to rethink which country their allegiance is in and look toward relocating themselves to El Salvador instead of the United States.

We have enough dangerous criminals roaming our country as it is and surely can do without the likes of someone such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia returning here!

Ward Johnson

Upside-Down System

As Doctor D’Arco, one of my favorite book characters, correctly says: “you would be wise to mistrust anything that calls itself a council.” I should have heeded his words.

But regrettably, I decided to tune in to a Long Beach City Council meeting anyway. I found, not unexpectedly, that nothing had changed since the last time I watched one and what I witnessed still – as always – infuriated me. You would think that the new City Hall Council Chamber, introduced in 2019, would have provided a more democratic setting. I guess not.

I saw the usual raised dais, the mayor and City Council seated in an elevated position, peering down from that rarefied air at citizens waiting in line, elementary school style, anticipating their turn to address the council about matters that were obviously concerning to them – including many who spoke about an urgent, serious safety issue that required (but did not receive) immediate attention.

With each name called, another moved forward in the line to pay their respects at the small, pew-like lectern, gazing heavenward at the enthroned council, nervously trying to squeeze into the strictly enforced time limit all that meant so much to them that it was worth relegating themselves to so lowly a position. Occasionally a councilor would descend from on high into the land of mortals for a photo op and then climb back to the position of dominion.

The physical arrangement of the chamber, with its elevated council and line of patient, pleading plebeians waiting below, is surely not accidental – and it speaks volumes as to the attitude of Long Beach city government. It is obvious, and purposely made obvious, that in this city the power rests with the council, not the citizens.

For comparison, I decided to then watch a meeting of a Portland metro area city council upon which I once served. Coincidentally, their City Hall and Council Chamber were redesigned and rebuilt at about the same time as Long Beach City Hall. But what I saw was nearly opposite in concept and purpose to the Long Beach version: a floor-level dais with the mayor and council seated at eye level with the citizens, who were themselves seated while waiting to be called to speak at a large desk facing the council, with a computer for citizen use and enough chairs to accommodate multiple seated presenters. It was a level playing field, unlike the elevated dominance in Long Beach.

The unnecessary intimidation present in Long Beach council meetings – incarnated in the physical setup of the council chamber – reminds me of what Long Beach seems to forget: those who are actually in charge are We the People! This upside-down value system then spreads upward through the ranks of government like a plague and ultimately reaches the White House. Long Beach needs to remember who works for whom – including who voted those councilors into office and now pays their salaries – and that good government begins here at home.

The City of Long Beach always thinks that they are so advanced, but the truth is that if they appear to be out in front, it’s only because they missed a lap!

Merry Colvin