Borderline Ethics

There he goes again. Harold Ezell, Western regional commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, was on location this time, helping Los Angeles Supervisor Mike Antonovich to film a television commercial for his U.S. Senate Republican primary campaign against the background of the Mexican-U.S. border that is policed by Ezell’s forces.

Ezell perceived no wrong in his personal role facilitating the filming. He praised the candidate for sharing his view that the nation is menaced by the flow of undocumented aliens from Mexico, and said that he would welcome any candidate to a first-hand view of the problem. As usual, the commissioner betrayed problems in distinguishing right from wrong behavior for a government employee like himself. Of course the immigration service should cooperate with anyone wanting a better understanding of the illegal-immigration problem. But, clearly, immigration should have no role in a partisan political campaign. The event brought to mind another of his unprofessional actions--his recent intervention in inspiring and helping to organize a citizen group, the Americans for Border Control, to support his service.

The Most Rev. Roger Mahony, Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, went to the heart of the matter in a letter to The Times questioning the exploitation of the border situation for a partisan political piece of propaganda. He called on Antonovich to apologize to the Mexican-American community and to cancel the airing of the commercial. The archbishop was right.

There are serious border problems that, as the archbishop emphasized, need to be addressed. But they will only be complicated by those seeking to convert the complexities into simplistic campaign posturings. The border problems will be controlled only by an immigration service that is professional, and that is led by professionals, faithful to the highest standards of law enforcement and to the ethics of public service.