Illegal Immigration a Focal Point for Region’s Problems
Re “Way Too Many People in Paradise,” April 11: Why is Steve Lopez, who normally sees through the cant of knee-jerk right-wingers, now resorting to their favorite whipping boy, illegal immigration? Surveying the many problems facing Southern California -- traffic that makes a commute by pogo stick seem appealing, housing prices rivaling some countries’ GDP and a public school system that will soon have to hold classes in utility closets -- Lopez writes: “Why can’t the congressional delegation at least speak up for tighter control of illegal immigration?” His reasoning: an unsubstantiated claim that most of the projected U.S. population increase in the next 57 years will come from immigrants (both legal and illegal, presumably) and their offspring.
I choose to stay in California because I see it as a beacon of diversity and tolerance, a place that can teach all of us how to negotiate and embrace the differences and challenges that this century will bring. But with this sort of shortsighted “blame the brown people” thinking, I have to wonder if I am wrong.
Erika Nanes
Long Beach
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For Ben Zuckerman, a UCLA professor, to point fingers at illegals for the problems of California is unfair. First, the jobs lost to the illegals are jobs no one would do (e.g., gardening, construction). For the overcrowded hospitals and schools, new positions would be created, resulting in more jobs. So, Mr. Zuckerman, instead of blaming the illegals, thank them, for they may be the reason you are not fired.
Robert Lee
North Hollywood
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Three cheers for Lopez. I was talking like this 45 years ago, so imagine today’s despair. I especially loved his questioning the tax breaks given for each baby, rather than a surcharge. Why is this subject such a taboo among politicians?
Peggy Ebright
San Marino
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Lopez proposes that significantly higher gas prices will force a marked change in Southern California commuting habits, leading to some sort of limit on population increases. Higher gas prices have been occurring regularly, including the spike to over $2 per gallon last year. However, this has done absolutely nothing to either change commuting habits or population growth.
Instead of limiting population growth, higher gas prices have led to vast profits for the oil industry and the perpetuation of an oligarchic political system propped up by those profits. Higher gas prices lead to further stress on those who depend on meager resources to survive in our complex, decentralized commuter society. To call for higher gas prices is to support one of the most regressive of all appropriations: the extortion of money from the working class up to the boardroom. Lopez does a great disservice to those of us who actually work for a living.
Ken Parsons
Idyllwild