Great way to kick off 2008 - Two LTEs

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Posted by Mike Scott on January 01, 2008 at 10:00:10

Letters to the editor
Los Angeles Times
January 1, 2008

Views on 'values'

Re " 'The general welfare,' " editorial, Dec. 28

The Times calls building a fence on the southern U.S. border a simplistic solution. I would like to ask The Times, six years after 9/11, how can we call ourselves safe when we don't know who is entering the country? If millions of penniless illegal immigrants can walk across our borders annually, why can't well-trained and financed terrorists do the same?

According to a July 2007 census report, there are about 54 million Americans ages 16 to 64 who aren't in the labor force. This includes 23 million less-educated adults who, for a variety of reasons, don't have a job. There are 14 million people actively seeking employment who can't find a full-time job in today's economy, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Does The Times advocate that these millions of unemployed Americans compete for jobs with millions of employed illegal immigrants? Which group of these individuals goes to the back of the line?

Michael Scott
Glendora

Illegal immigration revised
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
January 1, 2008

Peter Schrag's column concluded, "Sooner or later we'll probably look back at this (illegal immigration) episode with the same embarrassment and shame as we did the others."

The shame and embarrassment this society is facing is that we allowed illegal immigration to metastasize into its current crisis.

Illegal immigration is an out-of-control disaster where a democratic society allowed a relentless flood of illegal immigrants to contravene its laws; violate its borders; overwhelm its infrastructures and social systems; diminish employment possibilities for its indigenous uneducated and poor; and degrade its way of life - as is happening here in California and across our nation.

Schrag's play upon our historical immigration traditions is specious. The inscription at the base of the Statute of Liberty concludes, "I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" It says nothing about welcoming people who bypass our entry doors by climbing walls, swimming rivers and sneaking under border fences.

It also says nothing about inviting every human being on this planet to move to the United States.

Ninety-five percent of the world's population doesn't live in the United States, and if just 5 percent of this pool decided to walk across a truly unrestricted border, Americans would become a minority in their own nation.

Maybe that turns on Schrag's lights, but not mine.

Mike Scott
Glendora


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