Lower the volume on immigration

Re “End the immigrant hysteria,” Opinion, Dec. 3

Would Max Boot advocate opening Israel’s borders to Latinos and Africans? If such immigrants help the U.S., imagine how they could also aid Israel. And immigration might eliminate what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week referred to as a “South African-style struggle” that Israel could face because of its policies.

Frank Messmann

Falmouth, Mass.

Finally, an Op-Ed article by Boot that I can agree with, and for good reason. A small, disproportionately vocal special-interest group of anti-immigrant fanatics has blocked level-headed, reasoned and educated discussions on practical solutions to our immigration dilemma. The pool of GOP candidates has no backbone on this issue; only Mike Huckabee, an evangelical candidate, has had the moral courage to support the Dream Act.

Yes, immigration and immigrants need to be addressed, but not in the current hysterical, emotional manner utilized by anti-immigrant zealots and their GOP enablers.

We are blessed as a nation that our immigrant populations are not burning down cities or rioting in the streets, as is the case in some European cities.

Let’s get this right (before it is too late) and not further exacerbate a worsening policy blunder.

Alexandro Jose

Gradilla

La Palma

The writer is an assistant professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at Cal State Fullerton.