I am writing in response to Ed Surprenant's April 11 letter, "Letter is unfair to Democrats.”

First, all my references were directed at progressive Democrats, highly concentrated in swampy Washington, D.C. I stand by my statements made there which focused on President Joe Biden's border chaos. Surprenant states his party has great compassion, which is a commendable objective, but where is that compassion at a ruthless Mexican cartel-controlled border solely allowed by his president and his party?

Fentanyl, the leading cause of death of Americans age 18 to 45, flows almost freely through there. There is a horrendous and heinous human sex and slave labor trafficking operation almost unimpeded there, and 400,000 unaccompanied minor children are completely missing in their current whereabouts.

His reference to the Senate Democratic border bill stopped by Republicans was loaded with lack of controls despite his claim of " the strictest border regulations in our nation's history." U.S. statutes require stopping illegal crossings and detaining anyone who does get through. What this bill sought was a surge in border agents only to speed up processing and moving more throughout the country. 

Republicans embrace legal immigration and do not, as Surprenant conjectures "create an entire stigma around those that don't look like you" (the old racism gambit). It is completely and totally not “the apex of the GOP's platform.”

Lastly, on women's health care, a supermajority of Republicans (and all Americans) believe that at some point, open to debate, when the baby is viable –  can live outside the womb – abortion should be rare and subject only to dire conditions for mother or child. What's sad is that progressive Democrats believe in abortion at any time. Now that's really sad. 

Charles Krause

Peterborough