Right to Work

The members of Los Amigos observed with interest Laguna Beach Mayor Robert F. Gentry’s recent statements supporting the rights of all people to seek gainful employment. We are specifically referring to his view that people are first of all human beings and should be treated in a just and humane manner, whatever their color or national origin.

Gentry’s candor and public openness is a hopeful sign to those of us who view with disgust the use of plainclothes police officers to entrap and arrest people whose only “crime” is the desire to find work so they can feed themselves. It is hoped that other mayors will use the Laguna Beach approach to the problem of day laborers rather than follow the model established north of Laguna Beach.

The desire of people all over the world to come to the United States of America is nothing new to us, but it is not without its accompanying problems. Since most all of us have immigrant heritage, we should all be more understanding of this latest surge of immigration and seek to find humane solutions to the problems that develop from it.

It seems to us to be morally right to treat all people first as human beings and then seek humane and just ways to deal with other issues. We teach these new entrants into the “American Dream” what liberty and justice for all means by the way we implement these principles in our political practices.

AMIN DAVID JR.

President, Los Amigos of Orange County