Yesterday, at lunchtime, I went to the post office in Holland, Michigan. The post office isn’t far from my workplace and I needed to purchase stamps. I walked in and immediately noticed seven people in the lobby area, wearing lanyards, looking like they were waiting for someone, or something. They were talking amongst themselves; none were speaking English. Four of them looked Chinese and they appeared to be a family. Two young children and a mother and father.
I tried to read what the lanyards around their necks said, but I was unable to make out the words. I thought, they are definitely migrants, and probably waiting for a ride to perhaps a local church or some non-profit or government office. I felt a tinge of sadness for the family; they looked a bit frightened.
What jarred me were the other individuals. Young, military-age men who appeared to me to be from Venezuela or another South American country. Then this morning, I read that a 22 year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia was allegedly murdered by Jose Ibarra, a 26 year-old man from Venezuela who police said “is not a U.S. citizen.” One news report said he entered the country in 2022. Police also said it was a random crime; Ibarra had no connection to the victim, who was murdered while she was out running.
Then I thought about the recent attacks on police officers and tourists in New York City, perpetrated largely by young Venezuelan men who are, um, not U.S. citizens.
Answer me this: we already have enough crime in this country. Why are we importing more from a country that is the headquarters, if you will, of MS-13, one of the world’s most notorious and violent gangs? What sane country allows this? What kind of president allows this? Certainly not a president who cares about the well-being of his own citizens, something that is supposed to be one of his main responsibilities.
Biden and Mayorkas are responsible for that young nursing student’s death. And they are responsible for the attacks on cops and others in New York City and elsewhere.
And now, God forbid, this threat to public safety might be arriving in Holland, Michigan and the surrounding communities. Hopefully I’m wrong, but based on the young men I saw yesterday with my own eyes, and based on crimes happening in other parts of the country, can you blame me for being worried?
If you think I’m being heartless, so be it. I say, you’re being naive and willfully blind to not acknowledge what is happening in cities and communities across the country, brought to you courtesy of Joe Biden and his administration.
Gretchen Whitmer’s administration has already asked Michigan residents to volunteer to bring migrants into their homes. I say, you go first. When you start housing them in the governor’s mansion, then I’ll give you credit for doing something more than just empty virtue signaling.
I’m not going to cower; I’m going to keep living my life, but I’m going to be even more aware of my surroundings, and yes, I’m going to be armed as often as possible.
I hope I’m wrong about what is coming into my corner of the world. But I don’t think I am.
Kerri Pepoy is a former journalist living in Hamilton, MI.