Enforcement of Immigration Laws

To read Wayne A. Cornelius and Claudia E. Smith’s view on the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Mexican border (Commentary, Sept. 21), one would think these illegal immigrants are being forced to cross our border. If the Mexican government truly cared about the illegal migration north it would be doing a lot more about it than publicizing [the hazards] by the Mexican media. When is the Mexican government going to share some of this responsibility?

I applaud the INS and all border patrol agents. Keep up the good work.

VAL SPADARO

Laguna Niguel

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Re “In the Middle of the Unending and Unresolved Mexico-U.S. War,” Opinion, Sept. 20: To Barbara Renaud Gonzalez and others still crying over that 150-year-old conflict--Mexico lost, get over it. If Mexico had won, most of us would be peons laboring for a small, corrupt ruling class--like the one in Mexico City.

If our side had triumphed in the Vietnam War, millions of Southeast Asians wouldn’t have been slaughtered by the Red victors.

If, if, if . . .

But we must live with the results of what actually happened, for better or worse, as some of us are grown up enough to understand.

BILL STARR

Burbank

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Re “’96 Immigration Law Causing Rise in Deportations,” Sept. 22:

It is hard to understand how a nation founded and built by immigrants can now be turning such a blind eye toward the plight of those who have become ensnared in the increasingly complex and indifferent tangle of immigration laws. As the Supreme Court has observed, deporting persons such as Luis Gurrea [a legal immigrant who failed to file documents on time] is “the equivalent of banishment or exile” (Jordan v. DeGeorge, 1951).

Although the law may classify them as “aliens,” persons such as Gurrea are de facto U.S. citizens, and should be treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve. The INS and those legislators who have promoted the misguided laws giving rise to the harsh treatment of people in Gurrea’s position should be required to take a basic course in history and constitutional rights.

EVAN A. JENNESS

Marina del Rey