I hope readers of Oct. 9 Butler Eagle appreciate the irony of that publication. While the front-page headline read, “Kicked Out of America, Carrizalez family bids farewell to Butler,” the sports section offered “Lyndora event to raise money for neighborhood monument.” The first detailed a local family’s sad ending to an immigrant’s journey, while the second proposed to honor a town built by immigrants.

What’s the difference between these two tales? About 100 years. When Lyndora was founded in 1902, Butler’s industrial growth needed workers and Europe offered a supply of people willing to take a chance on a better life in America. It wasn’t always easy, but our own town’s success is the result of opportunity, adaptation and assimilation.

More than 100 years later, immigration is a different story. For the Carrizalez family and others like them, there’s a slap in the face instead of a welcoming handshake. Our country would rather deport working immigrants who are on a path to citizenship, and with them, their American-citizen family members, than accept them as valuable members of society. This makes no sense.

I won’t be here in 100 years to witness how Butler honors this time of our town. But I hope someone will look back to the ironic Butler Eagle of Oct. 9, 2026, and wonder, “What were they thinking?”

Patricia Neubert,

Clinton Township