Wilson and Immigration

* I agree with Frank del Olmo (Commentary, May 11). Immigrants are “fundamental to California’s economy . . . and pose a real challenge for this state.”

Look around you, folks, we need immigrants, the “legal” and the so-called “illegal.” They are only illegal because of our shortsighted immigration laws. Have you driven through Oxnard lately? See any Latin-Americans around? Almost every day of the week, they’re the ones in the hot sun, picking the strawberries and lettuce our tables demand and our economy so dearly needs.

It’s not a coincidence that 50 able-bodied workers line the corner of Fallbrook and Ventura every morning. Those hills are full of day-labor work that we are unwilling and unable to do ourselves. Who do you think is cleaning houses in San Diego?

Our economy is demanding this labor, but our immigration laws make it impossible to “legally” supply it. So these laws make the hard-working, economy-building immigrants hide in the bushes. Let the workers come in legally. Fix the immigration laws.

KAREN A. SCHWARTZ

Woodland Hills

* Del Olmo misses the point. The long-ago hiring of an illegal alien by the former wife of Pete Wilson does not in any way blunt the outrage most Americans feel about illegal immigration and the burdens it places on our society. Motives aside, the governor shrewdly and correctly responded to this public outrage and brought himself back from political oblivion. I myself, a lifelong Democrat, voted Republican for the first time because of the governor’s tough stand on this issue, including his endorsement of Prop. 187. The crisis levels of illegal entry we are now facing must be brought to a halt, even if it requires a temporary placement of an unarmed National Guard contingent along the border to assist an overwhelmed Border Patrol.

JOHN KOLLER

Vista

* How can you justify breaking the law? Do not try to explain to me how illegal immigrants fill jobs that nobody else will take. The fact is, if an employer can find someone who will work for less, he will hire him. I do not care if the people crossing the United States border illegally are black, Latino, white or Asian, if they are farm workers or rocket scientists! I do not care if they pay taxes. But I do care that illegal immigration is costing the state of California millions of dollars annually. How do you defend that more than 60% of all babies born in Los Angeles County public hospitals are from mothers who entered this country illegally? Why am I paying for that?

This is not about race. It is about the respect for the laws of this country. You cannot pick and choose the laws you wish to obey. Every time a person crosses the border illegally, it is a slap in the face to every immigrant who pursued the legal channels to enter this country.

MITCH ROBINS

Irvine