Letter to the editor: Bill Peduto & illegal immigrants

In response to a proposal to relocate illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities, Mayor Bill Peduto has said Pittsburgh would welcome several hundred (“Peduto: Sending immigrant detainees to Pittsburgh not a punishment,” April 12, TribLIVE). Come on, Bill, you can do better than several hundred. You offered a huge pile of taxpayer money to bribe Amazon for HQ2; here’s your chance to get those 50,000 people for free.

Peduto said he did not think any sanctuary mayor would view the proposed relocations as punishment, but of course they still make that accusation simply because it’s associated with the Trump administration and therefore must be evil. Sanctuary Mayor Libby Schaaf in one breath claims Oakland welcomes all and rejoices in the diversity and inclusion, and in the next breath condemns Trump for using human beings as punishment. So which way is it, Libby? Do you welcome immigrants or do you view them as punishment?

In 2016, President Obama considered housing thousands of illegal immigrant children in military installations in the backyard of former Alabama senator Jeff Sessions in what some considered a finger in Sessions’ eye for his opposition to Obama’s immigration policies. Oddly, there was no Democratic outrage at Obama’s use of human beings as punishment.

Bob Horger

Penn Township, Westmoreland County