Maywood’s open arms for illegal immigrants

Now that Maywood has declared itself a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants (March 21), I’ll be sure to spread the word to all illegal immigrants of Latino descent that Maywood is your city. I’ll also let all the Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Indian, Haitian, Ukrainian and Russian illegal immigrants know that Maywood welcomes them with open arms.

I’m positive that the Latino population there will gladly house them, feed them, find them jobs and educate their children in their native language. Formalities such as a driver’s license to drive a car will be conveniently overlooked. And if in five years this city of 29,000 is pushing 100,000, Latinos are no longer the majority and its elementary school is being renamed Yang Liwei, that would be all right. After all, an illegal immigrant is an illegal immigrant; race shall have no part in this “sanctuary,” right?

DANIEL GILKEY

Montebello

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I am the son of two immigrants from Jalisco, Mexico, and I consider myself just as much Mexican as American. My family has resided in Maywood since 1983, and we have no plans to leave. We’ve seen the city go through problems with gangs, drugs and even apparent abuse from the local leadership. It is only through working together that our city has achieved these changes, and I know the same overall plan will be needed if we plan on defeating this upcoming congressional bill [that would make it a crime for organizations or agencies to assist illegal immigrants]. As mentioned in the article, the division between “Americanized” and newer immigrants is a clear and monstrous one that must be eliminated for the good of the entire Latino community.

Just like African, Irish and Italian Americans, we are saying we are here and we are not leaving, so live with it. I pray that our government hears this cry and reacts long before people might decide to act out in any negative way.

JUAN R. GARCIA

Maywood