P. J. Rovero's letter “State needs leaders who will work with the president” (July 7), requires a response, including a little research into facts. To begin with, MS-13's origin in the 1980s is not Central American. It originated in Los Angeles and was exported to Central America in the 1990s by deportation of members.

We hear about 10,000 MS-13 members in the U.S., a soft figure since we do not enumerate arrests by gang affiliation. Secondly, some members are not immigrants at all. Thirdly, contrary to Trump's rhetoric, murder rates are the lowest in 50 years nationally. Fourth, the crime rate among immigrants, documented or not, is lower than among native-born residents — this from DOJ. The notion that parents of incarcerated children are a Trojan Horse for drug dealers, rapists, thieves and murderers is exposed in its absurdity. Fifth, at the upper estimate of 10,000, MS-13 accounts for less than 1 percent of U.S. gang membership, (1.6 million) — again DOJ data.

What we see is an attempt to create a spectral threat, to justify actions by this administration to suppress dissent against its policies, to equate non-European immigration with social unrest, to demonize Latinos and blunt their rising political influence. 

Rovero seems to have swallowed the Kool-Aid neat.

Herbert Ross

Lyme