The LuLac Edition #5, 413, Ayugust 13th, 2025

 

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our “Write on Wednesday” logo

 

Last week as I sat in my office on the Third Floor of Wilkes-Barre City Hall, I heard once more applause coming from the City Council Chambers. It was not unusual to hear it because the Health Department suite of offices is located directly underneath the Cambers. My office happens to be right under the doorway. For the 6 years I’ve been at this job, I became used to the action on the 4^th floor with ceremonies that ranged from swearing in ceremonies to emergency staff meetings when the occasion arose.

But something was different this time. I heard applause after each speaker. It was louder and prouder than usual but at the same time dignified. I needed to check this one out but then got interrupted by a telephone call. Later that day, I spoke to Wilkes-Barre Mayor Brown who told me how the event transpired and the importance of it in the current climate of uncertainty regarding the immigration issue. Like many positive things my boss the Mayor is championing this ceremony should be emulated as an example of how a city, a community, treats its people.

I was glad to see this editorial from the Times Leader which is our contribution this week to Write On Wednesday.,

 

WB EVENT SHOWS

HOW IMMIGRATION

SHOULD WORK 

Wednesday’s paper had two different yet related pieces. Page 1 included a story as old as the nation itself: A welcoming at Wilkes-Barre’s City Hall for immigrants who had achieved U.S. Citizenship. Page 7 included a commentary by Bloomberg Opinion Columnist Patricia Lopez about an equally old issue: Fear, hatred and rejection of immigrants.

In the former, Mayor George Brown hosted the new citizens during an event organized by Danny Marisol Lugo, who helps immigrants in the area work toward citizenship. “This is a great country, and this is like the maximum that we can reach, becoming a citizen of one of the best countries in the world,” Marisol Lugo said. “So we celebrate every one of you.”

In the latter, Lopez offered arguments that the methods being used by ICE and federal agents to deport illegal immigrants has become “a toxic combination of secrecy, arrogance and an unsettling recklessness.” Minnesota Immigrant Lawyer Steven Thal called it “enforcement on steroids.

“Agents with masks or uniforms? No proper identification? That never used to happen,” Thal said. “How would you even know you’re not being kidnapped?”

The effort to round up illegal immigrants is, in itself, a reasonable action — particularly when done with known criminals and people who can be proven to be genuine threats. The problem has been in accountability and due process. Lopez recounted one man with a green card who has lived in the U.S. since age 5. He traveled to his native South Korea for a younger brother’s wedding, and upon returning via San Francisco, he was taken into custody with “no explanation and no access to his attorney.”

Please consider, for a moment, your own reaction if men in masks emerged from unmarked cars and swept you away without explanation. Even if they asked, could you provide proof of citizenship with what you usually carry in your wallet or purse?

And please, for a moment, consider your own ancestry. The vast majority of U.S. citizens are descendants of immigrants, many of whom arrived to an icy reception (at best) from established residents (themselves scions of successful immigrants).

We appreciate the argument that “They came legally,” but the reality is that the laws of legal immigration changed dramatically over time. What was legal in 1790 varied greatly from the 1870s, and both varied greatly from the rules spelled out in 1965’s Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Biden administration made a mess of immigration by ending many policies put in place by Trump in his first term without ensuring everything was in place to handle the consequences. Yet as Lopez pointed out, Trump’s return to office has swung the pendulum in the other direction, with mass detentions before the facilities and legal mechanisms to handle all those people are in place. Neither extreme should be acceptable in a country made of immigrants.

The event at City Hall, on the other hand, reminds us of the way immigration should work, and the value it brings. “This is my home. This is my country,” Marisol Lugo reflected. “And not because I was born here, but because I decided to be here. Because I chose the United States as my house — my home.”