Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,

Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;

You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane,

All they will call you will be “deportees.’’

This chorus is from Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),’’ written more than half a century ago. The United States’ brutal immigration policies continue today against people like Isidro Macario, a Guatemalan who lived here for 25 years and will now be separated from his wife and children (“Losing the long battle against deportation,’’ Page A1, Jan. 15).

Guatemala has experienced high levels of violent crime, which can be traced back to the 35-year civil war there, in which citizens were abducted, tortured, and assassinated by Central American military groups and US-trained death squads.

During the Vietnam War, many people wore buttons expressing their shame for what our country was doing in Vietnam. Substitute “Central America’’ for “Vietnam,’’ and you have the perfect legend to describe our country’s endless war against immigrants, one that sets the stage for Donald Trump and his hooligan base.

Ellen Cantarow

Medford