Refugees
Re “With Trump, Ukrainian refugees in Virginia see uncertain future“ (A1, March 16): My heart goes out to the Ukrainian family settling into life in Norfolk due to the destruction of their homeland. Their refugee status is uncertain due to the fact that President Donald Trump may revoke their status and deport them, which appears to me to be premature and unsettling.
It brings to mind the words of Emma Lazarus on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Ann Chambers, Suffolk
Birth injury program
Re “Virginia man gets 9 years for embezzlement” (A2, March 7): How is it that the Virginia Birth Injury Fund has 2/3 of a billion dollars in investments? Since it’s a state program, who’s watching where it goes and to whom? Clearly no one.
Why is the account so large and why are there not greater payouts to needy children and their families? This goes well beyond embezzlement.
Stephen Restaino, Chesapeake
Small number
One man has removed a percentage of Americans’ wealth in days through tariffs, in no insignificant amount on our nation’s friends. About 273 members of the governing authority apparently silently question the move, but otherwise swear blind fealty to him. About 248 other members of that authority are now threatening 10 of their own party who voted to keep our government open, ignoring those 10 members’ very reasonable position that government shutdowns adversely affect our nation, especially middle-income and lower-income workers.
Meanwhile more than 340 million other Americans every day buy and sell to each other, eat lunch together, work and pray together, play poker and bunco together, mow each other’s lawns and pull each other’s cars out of ditches — usually without asking each other their party affiliation. We do that because it is a means of using the market and our overall concern for each other to make things work. Why do we let an infinitesimally small number of people fracture our system? More importantly, why do we affiliate with either party of that small number when what they do is not who we are?
Philip L. Russo Jr., Virginia Beach
Purge
Purge: To remove someone or something, considered undesirable, frequently abruptly with no warning.
In America, a chainsaw, wielded by Elon Musk and on behalf of President Donald Trump, has started purging parts of the federal government. Employees have been fired, or encouraged to take early retirement. The U.S. Agency for International Development funds and employees have been reduced to nothing. The press corps is now controlled through daily gaslighting. Diversity, equity and inclusion references, inferences, employees and programs are nearly nonexistent. A Palestinian protester with a green card is threatened with deportation, and colleges and universities have been served notice that if they permit protests against government policies, they will lose federal funds. Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security await the chopping block.
This is no Golden Age. This is repression. This is predatory behavior. This is scapegoating. This is chaos.
How do we survive bedlam? We read. We stay informed through reliable sources. We stand up for ourselves. We speak out. We protest while the First Amendment still exists. We contact our representatives, and we vote. We must not, we cannot become the “good Germans” of the last century who turned away from reality. History is replete with those who remained silent, because it was easier, more comfortable. Our allies are not complacent. How long will it take Americans to wake up and take action, to remove those in office whose goals are contrary to integrity, honesty, and equity?
Ginny Diezel, Virginia Beach