Letter: Trump's New Travel Rules Are Negatively Affecting Girl Scouts

To the editor:

Often times our governmental actions have unforeseen consequences beyond what was originally intended or imagined. This is in reference to President Trump's executive order to have new vetting procedures for people entering the United States.

The new border security screening procedures have distressed our Canadian neighbors to the north. Specifically, the new screening procedures to which their Girl Guides groups have had to undergo. Girl Guides are the Canadian equivalent of our Girl Scouts.

For generations the American Girl Scouts and the Canadian Girl Guides have traditionally shared camping facilities and sisterly joint activities. But the Girl Guide leaders has announced that they will no longer participate or share in such activities. Their leaders feel that their young ladies have endured embarrassing inspections and questions when entering the United States. Their leaders have decided that for the girls it would be best not to enter our country.

As a former Boy Scout explorer and a person who spent his honeymoon in the Canadian Algonquin Provincial Park, I hope that a way will be found to resolve this problem.

Scouting on both sides of the border is in the business of character building. The present situation harms everyone involved, both psychologically and economically.

Stephen Palmino
President, Wayne Democratic Club