Editor’s note: We offer here a collection of letters this week from Sun Sentinel readers who oppose President Trump’s immigration stance. Elsewhere, we offer a collection of letters from those who support the policy. But letters are running three-to-one against.

I care, Melania

First, let me apologize to my friends who have had to listen to me defend Melania Trump as an innocent victim of her husband. They argued that she knew what she was getting into, and wanted the fame and money. I answered that she was an intelligent women who found herself living a life she never expected.

What changed my mind? Knowingly wearing and allowing herself to be photographed in that jacket says it all.

Was it really a statement about “fake news”? It doesn’t matter. It was in inexcusably bad taste, considering the situation.

Those children torn from their families will bear their scars for the rest of their lives. They need to know someone, hopefully our government, cares.

Ellie Mero, Boca Raton

Words like “breeders” and “infest” dehumanize immigrants

Rhetoric matters. When President Trump refers to immigrants as “breeders” who want to “infest” our country, and to our immigration enforcement system as “catch and release,” he is using terms associated with animals, not people.

It’s his effort to dehumanize immigrants, to justify any sort of inhumane treatment of them, because to him, and to his white supremacist advisors like Stephen Miller — and to past advisors like Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka —they are not really human.

I weep for our nation that has given power to these fiends.

Ken Keaton, Lauderhill

Send UN troops to border to monitor goings-on

Looking at the situation on our border, perhaps the U.N. should send peacekeeping and monitoring personnel to oversee this dire situation. We should not be immune from what we demand of other countries and obviously need supervision.

Steven Tallman, Miramar

To escape crime and plague, our grandparents immigrated, too

To my fellow descendants of European immigrants, our grandparents and great grandparents would have done exactly what Latino immigrants are doing to enter the U.S. had there not been a roiling ocean separating the continents. The horror of the pogroms, famine, plague and the Nazis would have our brave ancestors crossing borders illegally, just as petrified Central Americans and Mexicans do today.

Do not think for a second that your family tree was superior because they “followed the rules.” If they could have, they would have floated in rafts across the Atlantic to make a better life for you.

Respect the risks taken by our southern neighbors doing the same thing.

Rich Schwartz, Hollywood

A slippery slope for civil rights

This is how it begins.

First, we remove long-standing due process rights our courts have held to be protected under our Constitution for non-citizens seeking asylum in our blessed land. If we remove these due process rights for asylum seekers it is, I believe, only a matter of time until other rights are removed in the name of increasing our safety and security.

How about removing due process rights from permanent residents with green cards? Think how much time, effort and money can be saved.

With a little imagination, a government intent on increasing the efficiency of the “justice” system could easily find excuses to curtail the rights of Americans. Could that happen in America? Look to Europe in the period from 1930 to 1945 for an answer.

To those who feel we need to remove due process rights for immigrants (surely only for the duration of the emergency), Benjamin Franklin’s words fit well: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Michael Poretsky, Boca Raton

Better relationship with Mexico would help resolve border crisis

President Trump is alienating our most important international partners. By imposing new tariffs, canceling trade agreements and issuing verbal abuses, he has turned off all opportunities to help the border crisis.

Trump has insulted the president of Mexico from day one. He has made shambles of NAFTA. He has said Mexico will pay for the border wall.

What if Mr. Trump worked with Mexico in a positive way to help Mexico stem the tide of people trying to get to the United States from Central American countries? Help them establish a place in Mexico to escape the atrocities of the gangs. Help them build a city of their own in Mexico to farm, live and grow without the fear of gang violence. That is all they are looking for.

Edward Kligfeld, Lauderhill

Mothers hold onto children, children hold onto baby dolls

I examined the notice on the Starbucks door: We need 2,300 baby dolls to represent the separated children

Where: Timberlake Park

Why: To send a message of love to Washington.

Bring your children, your cameras, your hearts and don’t forget your dolls.

I remembered my tears as I heard those six-year-olds crying for their papi and their mami. I thought, “My granddaughter left a doll in our home. I’m going to the park.”

I arrived at 11, wondering, “How many dolls would be there?” I saw hundreds of children tightly holding onto their baby dolls. They feared letting go.

I saw hundreds of parents tightly holding onto their children. They feared letting go.

I guess I saw over 2,300 baby dolls. But one picket sign sent chills up my spine. “I heard the voice of a six-year-old begging for reunification and I will never forget it!”

Mort Laitner, Cooper City