Editor, Ceres Courier,

I baptized my daughter at the Stanislaus Church in Modesto.  Her godfather, a Ceres immigrant turned police officer. I emphasize his immigrant background because it’s an election year and as is customary, mainstream media – and sadly, the Ceres Courier – have accelerated efforts to vilify immigrants as the sole problem threatening America.

I will never understand disdain towards immigrants, and while I hope my daughter grows up to be anything she wants, the one thing I hope she doesn’t become, is a “selective Christian” whom by all accounts portray themselves as modeling Jesus Christ, but the second the conversation switches to immigrants, they wouldn’t hesitate to send millions back to their country as Hayley and De Santis suggested in the last Republican debate. Talk about a modern trail of tears.  

A great quote I never forget:  “Those who travel with the current will always feel they are good swimmers, whereas those who swim against the current may never realize that they’re better swimmers than they imagine.” I imagine everyone who has a problem with immigrants never really struggled in life, hence their disdain.

If people struggled and still have disdain for immigrants who risk everything for a better life, then a second quote applies: “If you suffered in life and want other people to suffer as you did because ‘you turned out fine,’ you did NOT in fact turn out fine.”

There are no buses dropping off immigrants in Ceres, and thanks to E-Verify, the only “illegals” stealing jobs in Ceres are those working in the fields keeping the price of your food as low as possible in this inflation. The real problem is inept leadership – Republican and Democrat – at the local, state, and federal level. Remain focused on that, please.

Alvaro Franco,

Ceres