It is highly ironic that Lee Elci's column, "We need a wall for Americans' safety," (Jan. 17), carries on about the southern border while our Coast Guard, which protects our marine borders, waterways, and environment, intercepts smugglers and aids mariners in peril, is working without pay. Elci is entitled to his opinion, and I suppose The Day feels it should publish varying viewpoints, but Elci's column is overblown, overwritten, and out of touch with the immediacy of the local effects of the government shutdown that Trump had been spoiling for as a show of his misguided notion of power. Reform immigration, but don't waste money, time, or The Day's shrinking pages to recycle tired fear mongering arguments. 

Daneen Roth

New London