Undercover Effort to Seize Workers

Costa Mesa has got The Times’ goat. Four blasts on your editorial horn in just two months, yet the city is unrepentant.

The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was a bargain struck between two factions of American politics. My faction has upheld its end of the bargain. Those residing continuously in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982, have enrolled in the amnesty program, or at least have been given every chance to do so. Employer sanctions were delayed two years so that those not eligible for amnesty could prepare to leave the country in an orderly way. The idea was to shrink the illegal and exploitable labor pool.

That pool is larger than ever as the other faction has struggled ceaselessly to frustrate IRCA. Every enforcement provision has been attacked as inhumane and immoral. The Times doesn’t like internal barriers such as those raised in Costa Mesa. Neither do you want the border strengthened. A four-mile drainage ditch across Otay Mesa would have harmed no one. Indeed it would be safer for all concerned than the goal-line stand the INS must make every night. But the ditch reminded some of your readers of the Berlin Wall. They cannot distinguish between in and out.

Do you or do you not favor unlimited immigration to this country? If not, what kind of IRCA enforcement will you support?

I am well aware that immigrant labor does much of the dirty, arduous, dangerous work of America. But there are willing hands and strong backs in every country. I realize now that there will be few deportations from the undocumented community. But I support efforts to stem the tide.

NED McCUNE

Costa Mesa