Letter: Police officers have duty to enforce law

I respect our police officers and appreciate their hard work and often dangerous work. However, I fail to understand how allowing a group of residents who came here illegally to remain in Cedar Rapids (or anywhere else in the U.S.) makes police work more successful and our communities safer as Police Chief Wayne Jerman has advocated in a recent Gazette column ('Dreamers are key to our future,” Nov. 8).

Breaking our immigration laws is exactly that - a crime. Whether it is someone brought to the U.S. as a child, overstayed a visa, or simply over an unsecured border, it is against the law. And, our police offers have a duty to enforce the law.

We do not have zero unemployment in Cedar Rapids. We do have an astonishingly high percentage of elementary school children who qualify for lunch subsidies. And, there are a substantial number of people from other countries waiting in line (doing it the right and legal way) to enter the U.S. With these issues to consider, why would we give preference to people who already have broken our laws?

Yet, Chief Jerman believes illegal so-called dreamers are the key to our future. I disagree. Our future is much brighter by not allowing illegal activity to flourish, and by requiring everyone to abide by the laws of the United States of America.

Robin Skogman

Cedar Rapids