An Open Letter to Representative Andy Harris on Immigration Policy

Dear Dr. Harris,

On the evening of Thursday, June 21, groups of your constituents gathered at your branch offices in Chester, Salisbury, and Bel Air to protest the Trump administration’s policies on immigration.

Seventy-five of us came together at your office in Chester. As concerned citizens of the United States, we are deeply troubled by the treatment toward peaceful asylum seekers that has been perpetrated by the President and his administration and condoned by members of Congress. We ask that, as our representative in the Maryland’s First Congressional District, you represent instead our values and the founding values of our nation, which owes it strength to the ingenuity and hard work of generations of immigrants.

As a physician, you swore the Hippocratic Oath, which begins with the statement, “First, do no harm.” Yet, the immigration policies you and the President support unquestionably cause harm. To respect your oath, you must ensure the following:

First, that the children and parents separated at the border be reunited immediately.
Second, that you investigate and punish those who perpetrated this policy of family separation and child abuse.
Third, that you work to reverse the inhumane so-called “zero tolerance” policies of the current administration. These policies have led to the current crisis and do not represent an acceptable and humane path forward.
Fourth, that you censure the President’s racist and xenophobic rhetoric about immigrants. Such rhetoric leads our country down a dangerous path by dehumanizing human beings in need.
Fifth, that you fight for a reversal of the new H-2B visa lottery system which has led to the current crisis in the crabbing industry on the Eastern Shore.

Thus far, our concerns have been unanswered. Your staff has been unable to answer our queries about how you plan to act on this issue, and one staff member even suggested that the media’s reporting of family separation was inaccurate and that constituents are overreacting when we call to express our horror at seeing children torn from their parents.

What’s more, your public response to the family separation crisis, a statement that more detention centers should be created to hold families together, is no solution. Asylum seekers should not be treated as criminals, and families should not be held indefinitely in internment camps while the U.S. government tries to figure out how to implement its own ineffective and cruel policies.

We are watching and waiting. We sincerely hope that you will act immediately to solve the humanitarian crisis created by this administration in a way that privileges tolerance and respect for human life over cruelty and small-mindedness.

Sincerely,

Kitty Maynard, Administrative Team member, Kent and Queen Anne’s Indivisible
Dorotheann Sandusky, President, Democratic Club of Queen Anne’s County
Denice Lombard, Co-chair, Talbot Rising

On behalf of 75 concerned constituents

Denice Lombard
Tilghman Island