In his Jan. 18 op-ed, “Maine’s leaders must join fight against illegal immigration,” Rep. Mike Soboleski delivers several confused and confusing messages, but one thing does come across loud and clear: Soboleski doesn’t like immigrants.

First, he confuses “asylum seekers,” “migrants” and “illegal immigrants.” Furthermore, he conflates “catastrophic damage to people and communities across the country” with local issues and policies in Maine. Next he implies — without citing data — that the steep rise in General Assistance vouchers statewide is attributable to the inclusion of asylees into the program.

Finally, he charges (again without data) that the city of South Portland’s recent tax hike is the result of a welfare program, by which the city “spends lavishly on migrants,” forcing senior citizens to pay for “policies that encourage immigration” and asking our children “to sacrifice their educations.”

To support his contentions, Soboleski quotes, with no context, a Lewiston school social worker: “You have children that are getting no education but are being traumatized every day, and that is disgusting.”

Soboleski’s diatribe is not just anti-immigration, it is anti-immigrant. Thus, he faults the Portland School Board for “committing significant resources to the growing number of migrant children, speaking a wide range of languages.” This is Soboleski’s true target: children of immigrants speaking foreign languages.

One wonders where the representative thinks this growing number of migrant children, many of whose parents work legally at jobs many Americans would shun, should be getting their educations. Does he care?

Michael Lee
Kittery Point