Amnesty may fuel further illegality

Re “Amnesty isn’t a dirty word,” Opinion, May 28

Gregory Rodriguez argues that amnesty can have beneficial societal impacts, such as when Richard Nixon was pardoned and the Vietnam draft dodgers were granted amnesty. In these cases there was an arguable benefit, although controversial at the time. What makes amnesty for illegal immigrants different and objectionable to many Americans is that it is an incentive to continued illegal immigration to secure the rights afforded by this amnesty bill, or the next, or the one after that. The only way to halt the current flood of unskilled, uneducated labor is by strict enforcement, elimination of amnesty and institution of a well-regulated guest worker program for a limited number of critically needed job categories.

THOMAS OATWAY

Valencia