We are a melting pot of ideas

To the editor:

(re: “Care about people — just make sure it’s right people,” Aug. 1)

Reasonable people can disagree about how many refugees and economic immigrants should be admitted in a given year. And they can disagree about the best way to treat the millions of illegals who are already here.

But to demean would-be Americans as “a locust-like invasion” is neither reasonable nor humane. In fact, for almost 200 years, America had “open borders.”

The slave traders, the captains of the slave ships, and thousands of slave owners across America were free to drag human chattel in chains from Africa. And all kinds of businessmen in every American city freely recruited millions of workers in Europe and Asia who would be docile, willing to work for pitiful wages, and too terrified to join unions.

One final point: It is revolting that Mr. Alvin Gordon imagines some sort of homogeneity among “Upper West Side liberal Jews.” They have a variety of viewpoints on how many refugees and economic immigrants should be admitted every year, and the best way to treat the millions of illegals who are already here.

It may come as news to Mr. Gordon that there are liberal Irish Americans, German Americans, Italian Americans, Polish Americans, Latino Americans, and Anglo Americans.

And yes, some of them live on the Upper West Side.

Maurice Wolfthal

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