Sept. 19, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: In a Roanoke-Times op-ed (Sept. 19) by Ben Cline, our 6th District congressman, I read with dismay the contention that the Democratic Party “demands … open borders and resistance to anything the federal government does while Donald Trump is president.”
Is this just hyperbole or a gross misrepresentation of the facts? I asked my AI browser resource to identify individuals and/or groups that espouse “open borders.” The response was that it referred to those “who argue for more lenient immigration policies.”
True, but that is very different from what Rep. Cline wrote. I know of no serious, significant person or group that influences Democratic Party policy who has ever advocated for what Cline claimed. As has been the case for some while, assertions have become, for some persons and groups, preferable to facts.
Yes, at present we do have a right to the exercise of “freedom of speech,” but let us be honest in our public declarations, and stick to facts, not half-, or less than half-, truths.
RONALD E. GRAVATT Buena Vista
