News Summary

HAMILTON — While Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones awaits an answer to a letter he sent last week to President-elect Barack Obama urging him to take a stand on immigration reform, at least one leader in the Hamilton Hispanic community agrees a positive change is needed.

"It is good to see that Sheriff Jones understands, as many of us do, that President-elect Obama has to deal with a great number of issues, including a failing economy and the need for comprehensive immigration reform. So too, I am heartened to see that the sheriff is well-aware that it is going to take compromises from all sides if we are going to be able to bring 12 million plus people out of the shadows and restore a healthy balance between the law and human rights," said Shelly Jarrett Bromberg, assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Miami University Hamilton.

In the letter dated Nov. 20, Jones wrote, "The drugs coming from Mexico to the United States is out of control and it appears we have no policy to control any of these serious problems, I believe they need to be addressed."

The sheriff ended with a plea for Obama not to overlook law enforcement: "We all know that it will take compromises from all sides. When planning policy for these issues, please consider the needs of the front line law enforcement agencies, jails and prison systems."

Jarrett Bromberg said, "As a beginning, I propose that we all make a concerted effort to learn the truth about immigration and immigrants by searching out a variety of authoritative sources rather than relying on negative rhetoric based upon hearsay and half truths. Where we are today is the result of an incredibly complex set of problems and policies that involve people from many walks of life with an infinite number of experiences."

Jones said Tuesday he is willing to be part of an open dialog among a small group of people from different factions of the community to develop a reasonable solution.