To the editor:

“Everybody wanted to come here. America meant freedom, opportunity, a better life,” said a friend of mine when asked why she came to America from Poland more than 20 years ago. She grew up under the Soviet regime, and as a little girl knew she could not talk freely to anyone, because anyone could be an informer. She constantly feared that her father, who was active in the resistance, would be arrested and never seen again.

She made America her home, worked, paid taxes, became a citizen, had a family, and now, it feels to her like the life she remembers from her youth in Poland is beginning to happen in America. The First Amendment freedoms that were so appealing are now threatened. Legal residents are deported for speaking out to oppose government policy. How long until citizens find they are in trouble for criticizing the government? Due process is ignored, a luxury reserved for citizens, at least for now. The press is under attack and several media companies have given in to President Trump’s demands rather than stand up for their constitutional right.

As a native born American I have always taken these freedoms for granted. Shame on me. But my friend knows firsthand how precious these freedoms are, and sees them slipping away. Now she wonders if she should move back to Poland.

Is this how we make America great?

John Monroe

Saranac Lake