Prop. 187 Creators

“Prop. 187 Creators Come Under Closer Scrutiny” (Sept. 4), on the founders of Prop. 187, the “Save Our State” initiative, is nothing more than a thinly disguised smear tactic against the people who are working to correct the problem of illegal immigration in California and the United States in general.

Your publication has aligned itself to a campaign which seems to pander to the narrow special interests of the immigrant rights groups who have united to defeat Prop. 187. The people of California will have the final say on this issue, when they cast their vote in November.

Hopefully, your newspaper will be awakened to the fact that illegal immigration is a real problem in California.

THOMAS P. LOGAN

Fountain Valley

* It is interesting that Prop. 187 co-authors Alan Nelson and Harold Ezell are taking a less visible role in its promotion. Perhaps this is due to their discovery that the proposition could cost taxpayers up to $15 billion annually in lost federal funding for California. That information will appear in the nonpartisan legislative analyst’s statement in the voter’s guide.

Once the voters realize this initiative will create a threat to the public’s health, allow school officials to turn over children to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, risk an increase in juvenile crime and do nothing to address the job magnet the U.S. holds, it may be difficult for Nelson and Ezell to build a nationwide organization. Prop. 187 is not the solution to the problem.

RON HARRISON

Torrance

* I feel Prop. 187 is a giant step backward for California. Thanks to relentless media coverage against illegal aliens, something as terrible as Prop. 187 is supposedly doing well in the polls. What the media forgot is that illegal aliens are also consumers, taxpayers and an always available low-cost work force. For every dollar spent on illegal aliens, many more dollars go into our economy.

With Prop. 187, we will have many children afraid to go to school. That alone makes Prop. 187 something to dread. L.A. County Sheriff Sherman Block is trying to warn voters that it will mean more crime on the streets, with so many children not attending school (Aug. 19).

Remember, illegal aliens have been in California all of this century, during some very prosperous years (sometimes in very large numbers)--they must have had something to do with this prosperity.

PRISCILLA LAZZARA

La Puente