LETTER: Don't compare refugees to 19th century immigrants

I am writing in regard to the letter by Steve Brady in the March 13 paper.

Unlike him, I agree with the Flathead County commissioners’ opposition to refugees in Flathead County.

Yes, millions of immigrants came to America from 1840 and even into the early 1900s, but there was no social service to help them. The welfare system was not even started until 1935 during the Great Depression. Immigrants came to America and were all proud to call it their country. It was by hard work and determination that they survived. They came with a hard work ethic and honesty to be proud Americans and obey the law of the land of “their” country.

My father immigrated to the United States in 1902 from Sweden. He settled in Minnesota and worked very hard in the woods logging to establish himself there. He eventually was able to reach his dream to farm in North Dakota.

The immigrants that settled our great country and the refugees should not even be compared. We should be thanking the immigrants for what they did for America.

A good book to read about how hard it was to survive as an early immigrant is “The Immigrants” by Vilhelm Moberg. Most refugees don’t want to be here and will not honor our country as immigrants did. They don’t want to consider it their country.

— Kay Snipes is a resident of Columbia Falls.