To the Editor:

I write to express my utter sadness at the lack of compassion and the active cruelty of the “Administration” towards the 350 immigrants that were shackled, tied, and flown to Panama where they were essentially jailed. 

These people were denied the rights afforded for those seeking asylum in this country and apparently used as some sort of Panama Canal barter. They were imprisoned in a hotel and are now being sent to a holding area in the Darien Jungle area.

These people come from countries whose leadership we have previously identified as oppressive — Iran, Afghanistan, and China. Yet, no matter — their passports were taken from them in Panama and their futures are uncertain.

For many, if they are deported back to their origin countries, they face certain death.

What is accomplished here?

I help teach English to immigrants — they are hard-working and resolute in their determination to contribute to a society they view as democratic.

But apart from the transactional nature of this awful kidnapping, the entire demonization of immigrants is an attack on all of us. A way to divide and distract us from the misdeeds taking place every day against us all.

Without resistance, who is next?

My mother’s family fled Poland after having lived there for centuries — those who stayed perished.  Members of my father’s Hungarian family died in Auschwitz. It’s the oldest story in the playbook of the dictators and powerful.

Helene Goldberger

Berne