Letters to the editor: Sending Idaho police to border, voting, farmworkers, Ted Epperly

Idaho at the border

Our governor using taxpayer money to send Idaho state troopers to the Mexican border and the governor of South Dakota sending 50 Republican-funded National Guard soldiers to the border could easily be waved off as harmless political ploys. As a retired Army colonel, it is pretty obvious to me these deployments of Republican mercenaries are extremely dangerous. Where will this end? Our governor justifies the deployment to keep Idaho safe? He talks about the root cause for this danger is Joe Biden and the changes he made to immigration policy. Please tell our governor that Congress is responsible for immigration policy, not presidents. So why not send these Republican mercenaries against the root cause, send them to eliminate Democrats? Eliminate the immigrants? Why not have a red Republican guard fight against the blue Democratic guard? We are a few short steps away from REDFOR vs. BLUFOR – Republican armies fighting Democratic armies. When you consider the lethal firepower of our state National Guards and throw in another 400 million privately owned guns, we have a recipe for hell on earth. God bless America.

Kurt Smith, Boise

Voter suppression

I am horrified by the Supreme Court ruling that de facto condones voter suppression. I am sadly not astonished that the Republican Party would celebrate this. Voter access should be at the heart of both parties’ platforms in a democracy, but the Republican Party now embraces every tactic to win — except winning on the basis of their message. They aim to confirm structures of racism and white supremacy as our nation’s demographics become more diverse and white people become the minority. How can our elected leaders stand for this and the impact on their fellow Americans? Are they so easily swayed by those who live on fear and hate? Can they not imagine a society not dominated by those who look and think like them?

Doctors, counselors, lawyers and clerics cannot begin to help the sick, harmed and abused without asking for their history. And yet the Republican Party has made denial of lived experience and history a central platform! They take no responsibility; they’re like an entitled teenager, angry when called out for their actions and willing to do anything to get out of facing reality. It would be pathetic were it not for the pain their policies cause.

Samuel Paden, Garden City

Farm workforce

While the rest of the country is enjoying the summer, farmers are preparing for some of their busiest months. And, this year, they are more worried than ever. The nation’s immigration system, including the H-2A visa system that allows the agriculture industry to legally bring workers into the country, is broken. The visa system is slow and doesn’t reflect the intense need that farmers and ranchers have for workers.

The U.S. Senate must approve the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. This legislation would modernize the H-2A program and allow agriculture employees working in the industry to apply, and hopefully earn, citizenship. We need the support of immigrant farmworkers, and we need the federal government to fix the system that provides us with a willing workforce.

The agriculture sector depends on these workers. Right now, more than half of all U.S. agriculture workers are undocumented. Immigrants make up a quarter of all crop production workers in Idaho. Our farmers need this bill. Tell Senator Mike Crapo and Senator Jim Risch — Idahoans support the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

Brook Allen, Meridian

Ted Epperly

Thank you Dr. Epperly. I must say I was disheartened when I read that the Ada County commissioners were not retaining Dr. Epperly on the Central District Health board. I do not know Dr. Epperly personally, but I attended monthly board meetings as part of my position at a local health district in northern Idaho. The physician on the board was always the person other board members would seek advice from and was respected for knowledge on health issues. It saddens me that a medical professional is dismissed for his concern for the overall health and well-being of the public. That is the core purpose of a board of health. In my opinion, Dr. Epperly should be retained, but if he is being dismissed, he should be given a grand reception and a big thank you for his many years of donated service on the Central District Health board.

Ethel Bardwell, Meridian