Illegal Border Crossings

Your April 9 editorial states dramatically, “Those who illegally traffic in human cargo bear immediate responsibility for migrant deaths.” You also state that more than 350 illegal immigrants have died in the five years since “Operation Gatekeeper” came into existence.

While it is more than unfortunate that these deaths have occurred, and it is also correct to hold accountable those who make a profit trafficking illegal immigrants into the United States, your placement of what you term “immediate responsibility” is misguided. There can be little doubt that those who seek to gain illegal entry into the U.S. by any and all means know that they are doing so in a manner inconsistent with American law.

Immediate responsibility, it seems, is properly placed upon those who chose to break the law in the first place, not those who helped them accomplish their previously established goals.

JAMES R. HARRIGAN

Upland

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Let’s get something straight. Anyone who violates this country’s sovereignty by crossing its borders illegally is a criminal (“Deportees Face U.S. Crackdown if They Return,” April 12). Those with criminal records are unfortunately the only ones who can be jailed or deported. In a fair system all illegals would face criminal prosecution and deportation. Those who cry foul are un-American.

JOHN ZAVESKY

Los Angeles