Local crab fisherman Gary Ripka, who enthusiastically supported Donald Trump's promise to secure America's southern border, expressed complete bewilderment this week after discovering that securing said border might involve resources that could otherwise be used to rescue him from the frigid Pacific Ocean.
Ripka, who voted for Trump and appreciates the president's efforts to tighten the southern border, is now furious that his safety has been compromised by the administration's diversion of resources to that effort. The Trump administration quietly relocated the Coast Guard rescue helicopter from Newport to North Bend, more than 90 miles away, reportedly to make way for a potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility at the Newport Municipal Airport.
"It makes you question yourself: Is this what I voted for?" Ripka reportedly asked, somehow surprised that "America First" policies might not include "Gary Ripka First" as a subcategory.
The fisherman, who has spent decades working in one of the nation's most dangerous occupations, apparently failed to consider that the helicopters safeguarding his life in Oregon's icy waters might be needed elsewhere to address the urgent crisis of people seeking agricultural jobs 1,200 miles away.
Commercial fishing is among the most dangerous occupations in the nation, and the difference between life and death on the water is measured in seconds and minutes. The Coast Guard helicopter has been stationed in Newport for nearly 40 years, saving countless lives during the treacherous December crab season when fishermen work around the clock in adverse weather conditions.
"It just doesn't seem like these are decisions about the people who live and work here," Ripka observed, accidentally stumbling upon the core principle of the administration he voted for.
