Letters: Humanizing illegal immigrants

Re “An immigration turning point,” Opinion, Sept. 28

It’s a boon and also a shame that we have to be told once again by Cardinal Roger Mahony to treat our brothers — in this case immigrants — as brothers. We seem to have lost the feeling for the “human family,” as the cardinal states simply and eloquently. One doesn’t have to be religious to stand up for the social welfare of all, but this concept is fast becoming an anachronism, one that now unfortunately may be the sole purview of liberals.

Mahony is standing up for American values in backing a bill to prevent police departments in California from turning over immigrants without a felony or serious conviction to the federal government. We need this reminder.

Jean Chases-Gross

Carpinteria

Mahony’s insistence on obfuscating the debate — by failing to distinguish between immigration and illegal immigration — calls to mind the insistence of those who choose to obfuscate a different debate by failing to distinguish between abortion and the right to choose. The arguments go round and round, barely touching each other, and the progress is virtually undetectable.

By failing or refusing to acknowledge, much less credit or discredit, one another’s position, we are essentially ignoring each other — as we blithely revel in our own ignorance.

Michael Clarke

West Hollywood

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