Sen. Susan Collins’ decision to give Maine’s support to the border wall is disheartening and seems yet another sign of democracy’s escalating erosion under the autocratic bullying of the Trump administration.

I spent years working along the vastly beautiful Texas-Mexico border, and there is a reason that U.S. representatives from this region are against an environmentally devastating divide that will not serve its own purpose. This includes Will Hurd, a Republican and former CIA operations officer in Afghanistan, who represents 820 miles of border communities from El Paso to San Antonio.

Hurd has referred to walls as “the most expensive and least effective way” to secure the border.

We need $5.7 billion for infrastructure that will actually keep us safer: new roads, new bridges, updated water systems and better schools, not a massive dysfunctional symbol of presidential ego fueled by racism.

Sarah Loftus

Farmington