I thank Mr. J. Kemp for comments (letter to the editor WLJ April 2) on my article “Resource Science: Unintended consequences” (WLJ March 15), and I appreciate the information he provides on past presidential administrations’ efforts to control illegal immigration.
Mr. Kemp writes that an assertion in my article, “liberals also support open borders and illegal immigration” is “…false, intellectually dishonest, and unproductive to the narrative.”
My statement in context is: “Liberals also support open borders and illegal immigration while conservatives oppose it. I know these are generalizations, but this pattern is apparent to me.”
I qualified my statements as generalizations to indicate that I don’t mean all liberals (or all conservatives). The fact is some Americans do support illegal immigration and open borders (e.g., Rasmussen Reports, Jan. 30, 2020). Regardless, perhaps it would have been better for me to write: “Some Americans support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants that will contribute to population growth in the U.S.”
I reject the accusation that I’m intellectually dishonest. I honestly think that some Americans support illegal immigration and open borders, as indicated in polls such as the Rasmussen Reports, and the policies of sanctuary cities and states.
Mr. Kemp is entitled to consider my statement to be unproductive to my narrative, but I don’t think it detracts from the point of my article that illegal immigration contributes to U.S. population growth with its concomitant environmental impacts. — Dr. Matthew A. Cronin, WLJ columnist
