Loss of farm workforce
Although I live 45 minutes from Immokalee, I have enjoyed shopping at the State Farmer Market and dining at the Mexico restaurant for over decade. In June, I noticed that several vendors at the market were closed and the usually bustling restaurant was practically empty. In July, a few more vendor stalls were vacant at the market, shoppers were few and customers at the restaurant were sparse, despite being a Saturday. Shortly after my visit, I saw a TV news segment about ICE detaining Immokalee residents. A market vendor stated that people who had lived and worked in the community for years were gone, removed by ICE or they left on their own. The streets of town were practically empty. Recently, another news segment exposed Agricultural police and Border Patrol detaining U.S. citizens who had ID and palmetto berry permits. Immokalee is a commercial agricultural community, 32K acres in production, dependent on workers to pick and pack produce. An article on NPR Digital explored Florida farmer owners’ concern about not having workers for upcoming harvests. A strawberry farmer cut his productive fields to 35% of last season. I contacted Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart’s office to express my concern about the economic impact of loss of the farm workforce and the potential for future food shortages and was told I was the only person to call about this topic. I asked when the congressman planned to address this issue or hold a town hall. The aide said they were working on a venue for a town hall; I don’t believe that for a nano-second.
Thais Tepper, Chokoloskee
Immigrant workers are vital
ICE raids against immigrant workers harm America rather than protect it. Immigrants keep our communities functioning by harvesting food, stocking warehouses, packing goods, and ensuring deliveries. Without them, our supply chains and daily lives would look very different.
Here in Southwest Florida, immigrant workers are vital. From agriculture to construction to home care, they do the jobs that sustain local families and businesses. Yet instead of recognizing their value, we criminalize them. The reality is that these raids are not focused on criminals but on targeting people with brown skin.
Meanwhile, the corporations benefiting from cheap immigrant labor often avoid real accountability. Immigrants are blamed for “taking jobs,” yet in truth they perform the difficult and often invisible work many others refuse. They clean homes, care for children, and harvest the crops that feed us all.
This is not only a debate about legality but about human rights. For many, coming legally is nearly impossible due to poverty and lack of opportunity at home. They come here for safety, dignity, and a chance at a better life.
If we truly believe in freedom and justice, then we must stop exploiting and discarding the very workers who sustain us.
Ruby Crawford, Lehigh Acres
Judges’ rulings ring hollow
Your coverage of the “Alligator Alcatraz” ruling highlights everything wrong with our justice system. A federal judge can write 47 pages of legal theory, but won’t take the time to go to the detention center, look these people in the eye, and see the reality for himself. That’s cowardice.
Judges hide behind paperwork, while lawyers line their pockets and the public gets fed empty words about “constitutional rights.” The truth is, the legal system is more concerned with country-club memberships and billable hours than with justice.
Until judges and lawyers are willing to face the people whose lives they control, their rulings ring hollow. The public deserves honesty, not backroom deals and self-serving decisions.
Richard Eckstein, Naples
Ukraine’s SOS to world
Sunday, August 24th, is Ukraine’s Independence Day − 34 years as an independent nation with a democratically elected government since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since February 24, 2022, it has been courageously defending its sovereignty and democratic way of life from a full-scale invasion by the much larger authoritarian-led Russia. During its struggle for survival, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people have been sending out an SOS – “save our souls” − to the rest of the world. Sadly, even a request for a ceasefire to begin good faith peace negotiations has been ignored by Russia’s President Putin and treated as a speed bump to his continued invasion.The collective sustained voice and actions of the democracies of the world can play a pivotal role in mounting global pressure on President Putin to reverse course. It was persistent, peaceful global pressure coupled with the strongest of economic sanctions that brought an end to the injustice of apartheid in South Africa in 1994. However, in the case of the Russian invasion, it will take increased defensive support and iron-clad security guarantees by the United States, Europe, and other major democracies, combined with the strongest of economic sanctions on Russia and peaceful, sustained global pressure for President Putin to agree to a ceasefire and reverse course.If you value freedom, August 24 would be a wonderful day to peacefully express your support for Ukraine.
Leo Desjardins, Bonita Springs
Contrasting Biden, Trump
The contrast is striking and the clarity of governing styles could not be more different when one looks at what our previous president, Joseph Biden, and our current president, Donald Trump, were doing during August of 2024 and this August. For the better part of a week in mid-August, 2024, President Biden was lounging on the beach at a Delaware shore resort while a war was raging in Europe and Gaza was aflame.
On August 15th this year President Trump flew 4,200 miles to Anchorage, Alaska to meet the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, in an attempt to silence the mournful cries from the killing fields of Ukraine as a generation of the youth of Ukraine and Russian were sacrificed so that Russia could regain the majesty of Soviet imperialism. Seventy-two hours later, President Trump convened a meeting of eight European leaders in the White House; it is unrivaled in Washington assemblages and is reminiscent of the 1814 Congress of Vienna that sought a lasting peace in Europe after the Napoleonic Wars.
Trump is what Theodore Roosevelt called the quintessential “man in the arena.” Roosevelt elaborated: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”
James F. Lally, Naples
Museums and slavery
Slavery was bad!
Chuck Ryntz, Naples and Washington, MI
Judge shopping
You have to admire the left. When you don’t like what the president is doing you venue shop for an Obama appointed judge. You come up with a made up environmental concern and then she shuts Alligator Alcatraz down. Never mind the fact that the purpose of Alligator Alcatraz is to hold criminals in detention as they are deported from the country. The left can’t stand a country without criminals. So you get a judge like Williams.
Joe Kiernan, Naples
Florida bans 7-OH
When I heard Florida had banned 7-OH (7-hydroxymitragynine), I felt blindsided. I take 7-OH to control the nerve pain from an old car accident. With it, I can work and care for my family. Without it, I’m back to pain that never lets up.
I don’t oppose rules around this stuff. Clear dosage, reliable labeling, and protections for kids should be the law. That’s totally fair.
But no one should have to give up a product that works for them without knowing why. The state has produced no evidence of a public health crisis that justifies a ban. They haven’t shown us any data suggesting we’re in an “emergency.” If there are numbers that say 7-OH is dangerous, let’s see them.
This ban doesn’t protect anyone. It just takes away relief from patients like me who are trying to live normal and productive lives without horrible pain. It should be reversed.
Jason Messerley, Lehigh Acres
Government intrusion, fear
A headline from the Washington Post caught my attention on Thursday morning. Although many government actions catch my attention these days, those that threaten individual rights and privacy law rise to the top because they affect all of us, regardless of political affiliation: “Government’s demand for trans care info sought addresses, doctors’ notes, texts”
Legal experts said the Justice Department’s subpoenas related to medical care for transgender patients younger than 19 appear to be unprecedented.
“The June subpoena to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia requests emails, Zoom recordings, ‘every writing or record of whatever type’ doctors have made, voicemails and text messages on encrypted platforms dating to January 2020 — before hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery had been banned anywhere in the United States.”
“According to seven people familiar with the subpoenas, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution, the subpoenas targeted care for patients younger than 19 and went to providers in states that still allow gender care for minors, as well as states where it has been banned.”
I realize that transgender care is an issue on which people have different views, some intensely held, an issue I am still learning about, but this is not about the issue itself. It is about government overreach and fear. When the federal government requests confidential medical records for any reason, for any medical care, as they did in July 2023, for abortions in states where the procedure was legal, it threatens all of us. It may not seem like it, but either our medical records for legal procedures are confidential or they aren’t.
The other issue raised in this article that deserves our attention is fear. Those “familiar with the subpoenas” shared information anonymously because they “feared retribution,” physicians are afraid. “Frankly, I’m looking over my shoulder driving home,” said one Midwestern doctor who had to turn over a work cellphone to supervisors after their hospital received a Justice Department subpoena; the doctor asked not to be identified for fear of drawing additional law enforcement scrutiny. Lots of people living in the United States, yes legally, yes citizens, yes abiding by the law, are afraid. Is this what we Americans want?
Susan Kaercher Meyers, Naples
Not a Democrat
Recently, a contributor to this forum falsely accused me (in a demeaning manner!) of being a member of the Democratic Party. As usual, the intellectually challenged feel compelled to resort to name-calling to supplant their lack of coherent thought! Please be advised, I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Democratic Party! In fact, I would never be a member of any political party or religious organization. They inhibit logic, reason, critical thinking, and take advantage of the gullible and naive. Additionally, they promote ideologies which are contrary to my independent thinking.
This contributor also made “suggestions” under the guise of “solutions!” Therefore, I believe a clarification of these terms is warranted. While “suggestions” are merely ideas or proposals, “solutions” are specific, detailed plans by which to solve problems. For instance, he “suggested” that our country stay out of wars. However, he offered no plan by which to accomplish his “suggestion.” Simply “suggesting” a goal is not a “solution” and accomplishes nothing!
This principle applies not only to wars, but also to all problems, including the numerous problems presently being created by the current administration. Prior to his election, a comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform proposal was presented as a “solution” to the big problem of illegal immigration. However, the Republican nominee viewed the passing of this proposal as a victory for his opponent. Consequently, he put the kibosh to it so he could falsely claim that the immigration problem was a direct result of his opponent’s ineptitude and that only he had the “solution!”
Therefore, coming up with actual “solutions” to the many problems our country faces is an exercise in futility because the current president would undoubtedly distract and obstruct any and all efforts at implementation unless he could falsely claim that these “solutions” were his ideas.
Hence, I stand by my previously stated “solution” to all of the problems our country faces. Through impeachment, arrest, conviction, and incarceration, the impediment residing in the White House, that continues to hinder the development and implementation of the many “solutions” that I’m sure our representatives can formulate, will no longer be a problem! A big beautiful celebratory parade isn’t part of the “solution” however, it sure would be fun!
Jay Custa, Estero
Newsmax disinformation
With the news that Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation suit over false claims that the voting machine company rigged the 2020 election against President Donald Trump, following on the Fox News settlement of nearly $800 million for also promoting lies about the 2020 election, it is sad that many people believed these lies and still do, including friends and family. These networks knowingly stirred up hatred and caused grave damage to the public and the nation.
John Speredelozzi, Naples
Cultish behavior
There have been several letters accusing writers to this column of the so called Trump Derangement Syndrome. If you don’t like Trump and write bad things about him then something is wrong with you. You have TDS. There is something in accredited psychology called projection. It’s a defense mechanism where individuals attribute their own unacceptable thoughts to others. They may know Trump is doing unspeakable things but they project that to the other side. They know Trump lies about almost everything but accuse the left of lying and being dishonest. Their own insecurities about appearances are projected when they laugh when Trump lambasts the looks of people he doesn’t like. It’s juvenile but they can hide behind someone else doing it. I’d offer suggestions to move in a more positive empathetic state but these folks have bought the ideology hook, line, and cement shoes. It’s a cultish behavior where you have to ask how could Jim Jones get 800 people to drink poison when ordered? You’re already doing it and you’re killing what was left of a democratic country. I’d say turn off Fox News but Fox is running the government.
Laurence Jacks, Estero
Majority-rule referendum voting
These chaotic gerrymandering tribal power grabs are more evidence that our “representative” democracy is anything but representative of what the majority of individual Americans want. If we don’t abandon our Us vs Them warfare, divide and conquer opportunists will swoop in and seize unilateral power.
It’s time to take the final decision keys away from our representatives and let them propose decisions to we individuals to either confirm or deny via majority-rule, quarterly referendum voting. We need to be a nation of sovereign individuals who democratically decide the fate of our nation, otherwise face the fact that we have been successfully divided − and conquered.
J. Cant, Naples
Selective blindness
Every administration since time immemorial has massaged statistics to support its worldview, yet the current White House’s human rights report still manages to shock with its selective blindness. The document ignores Gaza’s 61,000 dead and its malnourished children, while El Salvador receives a pristine bill of health — perhaps the reward for its president’s eager handshakes and photo ops with Trump.
More disheartening than these predictable distortions is watching Marco Rubio’s transformation. The once-principled Florida senator who spoke proudly about his immigrant father and defended birthright citizenship now blithely caves to fealty with policies that contradict his former self. I want to believe he lies awake at night, wondering if the sacrifice was worth the price of his convictions.
Tom Marquardt, Naples
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, August 23, 2025
Reporting by Letter writers / Fort Myers News-Press
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