My May 26 letter, “Why does Brunswick continue to accept asylum seekers?“, questioned the town’s rationale for housing 60 additional asylum-seeking families at Brunswick Landing. I challenged the town’s motivation for prioritizing the allocation of limited resources to asylum seekers over the needs of Brunswick’s homeless. That letter inspired Faith Moll and Veronica Garrett to launch defaming diatribes, Moll suggesting I am afraid of immigrants and Garrett suggesting bigotry. Moll’s rambling letter contained no substance, only condescending comments. Garrett tried to rationalize Brunswick’s decisions with an unsubstantiated claim that asylum seekers do not impose a net cost to taxpayers and that my advocacy for our own homeless constitutes bigotry.

My letter contained no hint of racism, bigotry or fear. I suggest that Moll and Garrett infused my message with those illusionary traits so they could portray themselves as righteous champions of immigrants. I am the widow of a career Navy veteran and the granddaughter of an Irish immigrant. I have lived in several Navy communities in harmony with all races. Navy wives are not wimps, and I have no fear of immigrants. Furthermore, Garrett’s lack of empathy for Brunswick’s own needy is, at a minimum, callous.

Moll’s and Garrett’s intolerance of different viewpoints and the demonization of someone with different opinions is obvious to anyone with more than one brain cell. They apparently embrace Portland’s “welcome all” and subsidized support for asylum seekers approach to immigration. How’s that working out? It’s not a pretty picture in Portland right now. It takes a special kind of stupid to create the chaotic asylum-seeker crisis that is now Portland’s immigration story. Brunswick, beware.

Note: Faith Moll says, “I revel in a country rich enough to help others.” This “rich” country is $31 trillion in debt.

Nancy Chesley
Brunswick