Better Border Security

Re “Illegal Immigration Fears Have Spread,” April 25: I thought this country abolished slavery. Have we learned nothing from the hard-won victories over such immoral and reprehensible behavior? In the past -- may God forgive us -- we actually hunted down human beings whom we forcibly brought to this nation to do our lowest-level, backbreaking, distasteful work. Now we simply ignore the borders and they stream in, shockingly willing participants in a virtual slave labor market, where if a Mexican won’t work for $3.50 per hour, don’t worry, the Salvadoran or the Nicaraguan in line right behind him probably will.

It’s not political. It’s shameful, and it needs to stop. Just because they don’t balk at absurdly low wages and the resulting transplantation of a Third World lifestyle doesn’t make it right for us to condone it, support it and profit by it!

Close the borders temporarily while the people of this country thoughtfully vote on a way to sort out this situation, so that wages are not depressed, Main Street U.S.A. is not remade in the image of border towns, and we can proudly continue to stand as a beacon of hope to the world of law-abiding immigrants who wish to play by our rules and apply for legal entry in the hopes of becoming American citizens with all of the rights and privileges that go with the title.

Monica De Vargas

Venice

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For too long, any questioning of our virtually open-door immigration policies has been dismissed with the false and irrelevant platitudes like “America is a nation of immigrants” (untrue since the 17th century), or “immigrants do work Americans won’t” (Americans did these jobs before an endless supply of cheap labor destroyed the wage structure, work hours and conditions of these jobs), or even “we can’t stop illegal immigration” (making the online employment verification system mandatory, making the penalties stiff and stopping government benefits would stop illegal immigration in its tracks).

The fact is, immigration is pushed partly by ethnocrats and ideologues on the left, but mostly by cheap labor-mongering employers. It’s time legal and especially illegal immigration was halted.

Richard Sol

Los Angeles

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Re “Gov. Praises ‘Minuteman’ Campaign,” April 29: It’s clear now why the Constitution should not be changed to allow the foreign-born to run for president; it’s the lack of basic understanding of the soul of America. Americans do not believe in the use of “thugs” to enforce racist beliefs. And for the governor to praise such activities sounds like something out of the 1930s in Europe.

Leonard Strom

Los Angeles

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Re “Ad Putting L.A. in Mexico Called Slap in Face,” April 27: Having been born and raised in Los Angeles, I was disgusted with this article. How much more do we have to tolerate from these radical Mexican pro-illegal immigrant groups and their diatribe? If you think the hierarchy of Mexico wants the responsibility of taking over and managing California, think again. They only want free medical, free education and every other free social benefit they can get.

Doug McCobb

Fullerton

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Re “Smuggling by Car Accelerates,” April 24: The solution to the problem of illegal immigrants crossing the border in cars appears patently simple to solve. When illegals are caught in the trunk or behind the dashboard, etc., as described in the article, simply impound the car. Ultimately, this will reduce the fleet of vehicles engaged in this type of activity. Certainly, conservatives should support this idea. Moreover, liberals would be hard pressed to oppose it as their position would require them to attempt to defend the idea that is the right of anyone to ride locked up in a trunk.

Since we can receive citations for not wearing seat belts, not having children in car seats or leaving children or pets unattended in a car, it only makes sense that the government take the appropriate steps to ensure the health of all people crossing the border.

Leonard Slater

Seal Beach

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A suggestion to enable all cars, rather than the current random few, to be searched prior to crossing the border from Mexico: All cars have their trunks already open as they approach the checkpoint. Vans have rear doors open, etc.

Hey, it works at John Wayne Airport, where all cars entering the parking structure have trunks open and are quickly checked.

Anne Wold

Rancho Palos Verdes