Letters to the editor

Please, someone explain why Maria "Chata" Leon has been allowed to live in this country illegally for 23 years, having 13 children and committing crime after crime. Why has this woman never been deported? Why is she still on the streets of Los Angeles?

There is absolutely no excuse for this.

Sandra Stubban

Stanton



While most illegal immigrants entering the United States are honest people, it is the job of our governmental agencies to protect Americans from those who are not. The only way to do this is to secure our borders, penalize those hiring the undocumented, immediately deport those found guilty of crimes and, most important, have a Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of the 14th Amendment to determine who qualifies to become an American citizen.

This is not an anti-immigrant solution; it's a pro-law, pro-American solution. Illegal is just that.

Cheryl Smith

Gardena



L.A.'s Drew Street -- crime fortress, drug dealers operating with near impunity, illegal immigrant haven, illegal immigrant mother of 13 "deeply involved in the drug trade" with a "lengthy arrest record" and three convictions but no prison time -- need I go on? And how many other Drew Streets are there throughout California? Sort of makes one wonder what our police and immigration authorities are doing as these lesions are allowed to fester and spread. It has certainly reached the point for us to demand accountability and action. Otherwise, it's only going to get much worse.

Ron Romanosky

Tustin

Economic refugees

Re "Divided by death and the border," Column One, April 2

Thank you for the heartbreaking story about the death of Alberta Trujillo and her newborn baby. My heart goes out to her fiance, Margarito Garcia, and her entire family, both here and in Mexico. I have a dear friend, an illegal immigrant, who works harder and longer than many Americans. The vast majority of people who come here from Mexico and Latin America are not criminals. They only wish to find work that is not available in their home countries. They should be thought of as economic refugees. If the situation were reversed and it were Americans fleeing hopeless poverty, I would hope that someone in another country would show us a little kindness and compassion.

Amy Smith

Irvine



I appreciated the article on the traumas many undocumented workers face when dealing with the death of a loved one. This article helped put a human face on a population that is too often only considered by many to be just a problem for the United States.

Frank Galvan

Los Angeles



The Times has really done it this time. A three-page nonstory about illegal immigrants heartbroken because they're separated from their families by the border. Pardon me if I'm not breaking down in tears over the plight of my illegal brethren separated by the border. Who made them decide to come here illegally in the first place? I can still remember when the front page consisted of real news, not some writer's misguided idea of a human-interest story.

Phil Hyman

Van Nuys

The Ickes factor

Re "A not-so-secret Clinton weapon," March 31

There is something wrong with our democratic voting process when the outcome of an election could hinge on how many times Harold M. Ickes can pressure a superdelegate to return a favor. We listen to the candidates' positions on the important issues for months and then choose one we feel is best qualified to be president. But in the backrooms, operatives such as Ickes work their magic, calling in chits and favors to close the deal on promises from the superdelegates to vote for his candidate, making our votes worthless. This is where change has to start.

Shirley McKernan

Los Angeles



The article on Ickes, "whose enthusiasm for no-holds-barred politics" and who is "aggressive, profane and openly scornful of rivals," highlights one reason I won't be voting for Hillary Rodham Clinton. It is those qualities that portend a presidency mired in partisan bickering and more of the same divisive government that we have endured for eight years with George W. Bush and Karl Rove. I don't want a superdelegate voting for Clinton because Ickes is calling in a chit.

Barack Obama is not tainted with the backbiting politics of the past and, I believe, can unite this country more than either Clinton or John McCain. And he's brilliant and eloquent to boot.

Bryan Hays

Saugus



How did we arrive at this superdelegate nonsense again? The idea that more powerful delegates can invalidate the so-called run-of-the-mill delegates by paying back favors smells like shifty Third World politics.

Elevating the individual superdelegate above the common citizen effectively cancels our freedom to choose a candidate for president. The electoral college after the popular vote is enough of a mess without the Democratic Party setting up this cockamamie bunch of regulations. Here we were, ready to put a new and fresh government up for election, and now it is beginning to look more and more like the candidates are a genuinely second-rate slate, selected and culled by behind-the-scenes, power-hungry veteran political operatives.

Patricia

McCann Cutkomp

Laguna Beach

Think prevention

Re "Clinton jabs McCain in new '3 a.m.' TV ad," April 3

Enough with the "3 a.m." ads! I don't want a president who can respond to a crisis in the middle of the night; I want one who will prevent the crisis in the first place.

Robert J. Inlow

Charlottesville, Va.



Sowing seeds of confusion

Re "Soaring demand, record profits," April 1

Your reporting grossly distorts our understanding of this serious issue because it labels huge corporations and the individuals who own them as "farmers."

To illustrate this point, you quote an Argentine "farmer," "whose family-owned firm is the country's major soy producer."

This is akin to telling us that the chief executive of a fast-food chain that is this country's major hamburger producer works as a burger flipper.

Indeed, the leaders of these major food-producing corporations only stand to earn greater profits through your mislabeling because it invariably leads to misunderstanding and confusion.

And in a world in which the sowing of seeds of confusion can allow these companies to reap immense profits, we should be working to prevent this confusion by accurately labeling this corporate form of the farmer as "agribusiness."

Tom Wilde

Santa Monica



Re "Food aid costlier as need soars," April 1

Terribly sorry about the cost of food rising as agricultural companies convert foodstuffs into fuel.

While I'm sure that most of us would agree that it is more important to feed our SUVs than a hungry Saharan child, something must be done. Has anyone tried converting America's waste products into food?

We seem to produce much more waste than any other country -- and our own homeless seem to survive quite well by picking through it.

H. Allen Evans

Los Angeles

Outrage and a defensive posture

Re "Rapists in the ranks," Opinion, March 31

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) reported that women are more likely to be raped by a soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq. That, of course, ignores the fact that women cannot serve in infantry units, but it makes a good sound bite.

Harman also notes that in more than a third of the cases investigated, the chain of command took no action because of "insufficient evidence."

Our local police and district attorneys have even worse prosecution and conviction rates because of the same problem, and because about 20% of rape charges are false, based on studies.

Wayne L. Johnson

Alexandria, Va.

The writer is a retired Navy commander in the Judge Advocate General Corps.



Where is the outrage? The treatment these young women were subjected to is horrendous -- raped by fellow soldiers and neglected by their superiors.

Doesn't anybody care about these young women besides their families?

I don't understand why women would go into the military knowing how badly many are treated. It's time for Congress to wake up and take action.

Lisa Eriksen

Redondo Beach