Editor’s note: This letter is in response to three letters in past editions.

OK, first off, regarding problems at the border, lest we forget, there was an immigration bill before Congress that was bipartisan and had been agreed upon by both the house and senate, the senate passed it and sent it to the house, but, Mike Johnson, the speaker of the house, was contacted by Trump and was instructed not to pass it solely because Trump wanted it to be an issue in the upcoming election.

That is what the Republicans are really all about, power plain and simple. Next, lets get to the real reason that immigration is an issue, simply put, its because the Republicans keep making it an issue. Per Paul Krugman’s recent column in the Seattle Times, immigration, both legal and illegal continue to have a positive effect on our country as a whole. They, for the most part, don’t take jobs from native born people and the legal ones pay taxes for many years before they can be expected to reap any benefits, while the illegal ones still pay payroll taxes with no means to ever get any benefits form that, which has a very positive effect on our economy.

Again, simply put, immigrants, both legal and illegal are a great boon to our country. Now to Nancy Butler calling Jon Buss weak and xenophobic, Allene Armstrong may not be familiar with some of the many disparaging ways Jon Buss has referred to liberals, one of the worst being that liberals have a mental disease.

While we can all agree that we need a more comprehensive border policy, those of us familiar with Jon Buss’ comments over the past several years, can also agree that his comments are indeed weak and xenophobic to say the least. Just sayin’.

Larry Benson

Enumclaw