Letters: Graham right to show compassion for immigrants

As a teenager, I spend time in a Central American shantytown on a humanitarian trip. Families lived between metal sheets leaned together. The dirt floors were mud with daily rains. And I experienced something I’ve never forgotten.

We were serving food, a scoop of rice topped by a spoonful of beans, with a slice of bread. We’d served everyone when I found myself facing a girl about 4 years old who wanted more. And I had to say, “I’m sorry; there’s no more,” and watch tears overflow her eyes.

My own siblings would turn their noses up at this meal; heck, I would too. Yet here was this child in tears because she just wanted a little bit more.

I realized how lucky I was to have been born here in the United States — an act of chance that separated me from this toddler and billions more.

As Sen. Lindsey Graham has faced push back for daring to suggest that maybe, just maybe, we should show compassion in immigration, I’ve relived that moment time and again.

I’d like to thank Sen. Graham for choosing compassion. It is never the wrong choice, and we could all stand to choose it more often.