Don’t Publicize Help for Border Crossers

Re “Aid Stations Aim to Help Illegal Crossers Avoid Perishing in Cold,” Jan. 1: I had mixed feelings while reading your article. One can understand the humanitarian motivations of those who leave food, water, clothes and blankets on the American border to help “illegal immigrants returning from holiday visits in Mexico” survive harsh conditions of San Diego’s mountains. Advertising it in a newspaper with circulation over 1 million is a horse of another color, though. It encourages the illegal border crossings and gives the perpetrators a moral excuse to do so.

How can we expect the illegal immigrants to respect our laws if we show them that we are not serious about enforcement of these laws? By publishing that article your newspaper did a great disservice to this country.

Marek A. Suchenek

Cypress

*

Setting out aid kits for illegal border crossers is a nice gesture, but hardly the solution. I envision a string of full-service illegal alien welcome centers, where DMV satellite offices issue instant California driver’s licenses and UC admissions kiosks make a resident application available to each college-age visitor.

Isn’t it nice that aiding and abetting criminals has become so well accepted?

Gary S. Osheroff

Los Angeles