I have promised myself to speak out at every opportunity against our inhumane treatment of refugees at our southern border.

The letter “Immigrants still welcome” (July 15) opened the door to a comment.

Before making a statement, it is important that I divulge that I am the chairman of the Pomfret-Fredonia Democratic Party. I am not speaking for the party, but there is value in stating that I do have a political affiliation. In the same vain, I feel that the writer, Melanie Mann, should make us aware that she is the chairwoman for the Pomfret-Fredonia Republican Party.

She is mistaken with her statement that Presidents Clinton and Obama are responsible for the separation of families. Clinton signed an aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration in 1996. But it had no provisions mandating the separation of families. Family separations resulted when deported individuals chose to leave family member in the United States. Both Clinton and Obama took border security seriously, as they should; however, the current policy of separation of families lies on the shoulders of President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. Sessions said, “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and that protects the weak and protects the lawful.” He had the nerve to quote the Bible to justify his hateful, racially motivated mistreatment of refugees in search of sanctuary in the previously most compassionate country in the world.

Why would you, the writer, be so misinformed on this topic? You viewed our president’s tweets that are filled with falsehoods and flat out lies.

As you read your letter that day, hopefully you continued to read Page B8 of the Sunday OBSERVER the article Border measures part of Trump’s bigger immigration crackdown. The article, in part states: “In reality, the government is working to harden the system on multiple fronts to curb immigration, carving a path around various court rulings to do so. The administration is seeking to lock up families indefinitely, expand detention space and tighten asylum rules and apply more scrutiny to green cards applications.”

All of this is happening while at the same time the president wonders why we do not have more immigrants from Norway. nd how does your sister-in-law feel when the President refers to her home country as full of “rapists and murderers”?

You work in a school Ms. Mann, take a moment to reflect on history as to what falsehoods, misrepresentations, and lies have done when combined with racism, bigotry and hatred. Beware, your Kool-Aid may be tainted.

Stephen Keefe is chairman of the Pomfret-Fredonia Democratic Committee.