To the Editor:
Thank you, Mayor Bill Gluba, for initiating the “Caring Cities Campaign.”
Thank you for your bold vision and courageous leadership in calling Davenport and the Quad Cities to come together as a compassionate community to be part of the solution to the humanitarian crisis at our U.S.-Mexican border.
For far too long, Congress has failed to do the tough work of fixing our broken immigration system. Right now, the House Republican leadership refuses to bring the immigration bill the Senate passed to the floor. It is much easier to blame President Obama.
Nevertheless, the masses of refugees, many unaccompanied children, continue to flee horrific conditions in their Central American countries. They willingly risk death in their flight to what they hope will be a better life. They come because they have nothing to lose. As a 12-year-old refugee said, “It’s tough to live without hope.”
In my lifetime, we have become citizens of a global world.
Citizenship in a global world demands a global heart, a heart big enough to welcome the stranger. This is a time for people of all faiths and cultures to work together to help resolve this crisis.
I applaud Mayor Gluba for his leadership, challenging Davenport and the Quad Cities to be global citizens with a global heart big enough to be part of a compassionate solution.
Mary Orr
Davenport