OPINION:
Recently, the Chicago Tribune highlighted the story of Michael Castejon, an immigrant from Venezuela, who announced that he and his family were going home from the U.S. in disappointment.
They had migrated to Chicago and had been housed in a police station for a short time. Then it was off to a shelter, where they were falsely told there would be hot meals and a stipend provided. From there, they received a short-term stay in shared housing through a city voucher program (“Chicago and other northern U.S. cities scramble to house migrants with coldest weather just ahead,” web, Dec. 1).
That was followed by a one-month rental, afforded by off-the-books, untenable employment. Next came another two-week stay at the police station. Preferring to live on the streets at home instead of those in Chicago, they got tickets to return to Venezuela.
Mr. Castejon said that there was nothing in Chicago for his family and that “the American Dream doesn’t exist anymore.”
But the American Dream never meant that someone could come here with little more than the clothes on their back and be immediately afforded a middle-class lifestyle, courtesy of the American taxpayer. The ideology of “from each according to his ability to each according to his need” is that of socialists, communists and leftists, not everyday, hardworking Americans.
In the face of genuine need, Americans will give to the extent that they reasonably can. But they will not happily countenance or accept “carrying” those who are unwilling to obey our laws, respect our culture or work — legally — to support themselves.
HESSIE L. HARRIS
Silver Spring, Maryland
