Immigration Reform With a View to Realities

Re “Scapegoating Illegal Workers Won’t Seal the Borders,” Commentary, Oct. 28: Thanks to Robert Scheer I have discovered two parallel universes: reality, in which most of us dwell, and Scheer perception, in which Scheer resides.

In Scheer perception, illegal aliens come to America as part of a conspiracy among U.S. corporations. This conspiracy exists because U.S. employers are “greedy and cheap” and “unwilling to abide by labor laws” and to satisfy America’s need for underpaid “housekeepers, gardeners, nannies and elder-care workers.” Naturally, in Scheer perception, any concerns for national security are dismissed as paranoid fantasies.

In reality, most illegal aliens come here to escape grinding poverty at home, but we can’t distinguish between those who come here for a piece of the American dream and the few who might come here to destroy the American dream.

This wave of humanity will continue to come here, even if we reform the current immigration system to provide greater legal access, with greater economic and political opportunities and greater protections for American security. Such reforms would be a good thing, in reality, where most of us dwell.

John F. Grannis

Santa Clarita

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Although born and raised in Guatemala, I was naturalized in 1996, the same year I graduated from UCLA. It was at this time that I became politically aware that it is economics that drive people to come to the U.S. It is certainly not because we are treated well here. Even though we are given low-paying jobs without benefits, we have opportunities here to improve our lives and those of our children.

Marco Veliz

Long Beach