Immigration Initiative

* You should give your columnists more space. Adela de la Torre’s article about immigration reform (Commentary, July 13) did indeed point out certain flaws in the Save Our State initiative, but she obviously did not have room to posit her own ideas on how to solve the problem of illegal immigration.

She had room to accuse taxpayers of hysterical racism, but she simply must not have had the space to explain how to prevent hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from around the world from bloating our welfare rolls and displacing California workers who must pay taxes on their wages.

She had the inches to wonder about the implementation costs of SOS, but she hadn’t the opportunity to compare those costs to those of maintaining the status quo.

I carry no torch for SOS. It is flawed. SOS is a concrete proposition, though, and thatis more than we have seen from De la Torre or anyone else. I’d like to see her plan. Please let her express herself more fully next time.

RICK WIGGINS

Pasadena

*

Adela de la Torre criticizes Prop. 187, the Save Our State initiative which would rightly cut many taxpayer-funded services to illegal aliens, for shifting the illegal immigration debate from employment to entitlements. But one of the reasons why California is in such dire financial straits is precisely because of the large sums spent by the state on illegals.

Medi-Cal pays for 40% of births to illegal alien mothers, and the state pays countless billions educating or incarcerating illegals. There would be no budget problems if taxpayers didn’t have to pay for all of the free services illegals receive.

Entitlements for illegals should be addressed, and Prop. 187 is genuine reform that the public supports, not hysteria. The only hysteria I see comes from special-interest Latino groups and immigration lawyers who want to see the free services continue for those in this country illegally.

JEFFREY A. HARTWICK

Palos Verdes Estates