To the editor:

I am publicly calling upon former Lt. Gov. Dan McKee to join 25 other governors and sign a letter of support for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is defending his state against illegal immigration.

Not only would this be a strong show of bipartisanship, which is so sorely needed in our divided country, but it wouldn’t be a major compromise on many of the Left’s “current things” either.

Granted, Abbott is resisting a 5-4 Supreme Court order (saying feds can take down Texas’ razor wire), so a pledge of support might spook the otherwise swashbuckling McKee. However, cancelling billions in student loans after SCOTUS ruled 6-3 against his loan forgiveness program, President Biden has recently demonstrated their rulings aren’t inviolable holy writ.

So, let’s go issue by issue. McKee has worked to increase the minimum wage for Rhode Islanders. Illegal immigration will continue to depress wages over time by offering employers an abundance of cheap, easily exploitable labor.

McKee wants to resolve Rhode Island’s ongoing housing crisis. Illegal immigration puts an additional strain on homeless shelters and affordable housing units.

McKee wants Rhode Island’s schools to rival Massachusetts’. Illegal immigration forces the education budget to prioritize funding, not for advanced programs to cultivate gifted students, but for remedial programs to help “multilingual learners” catch up with their English-speaking peers.

It’s almost as though the Left’s commitment to illegal immigration counteracts so many of their own efforts. McKee could start to remedy his party’s cognitive dissonance by signing the letter of support for Abbott.

Unfortunately, many liberals prefer sanctimony to reality. This preference is on display at its sublimest whenever progressives flee their coastal deep-blue hellholes for inland red havens of law and order. They want to enjoy the benefits of conservative policies while also voting for the same over-idealistic guff — #defundthepolice — that previously turned their home states upside-down.

Perhaps I should be writing an open letter to Gov. Abbot instead. If he wants to secure Texas’ borders, he ought to consider running more razor wire to keep Californians out, too.

Zachary Cooper
48A Sherman Ave.