Both sides of the border fence

Re “Don’t fence them in,” Opinion, Oct. 17

In his desperate attempt to rally support for halting the border fence construction, Ruben Martinez introduces nonpolitical allies into the argument. Environmentalists, artists and others enter the fray on the side against construction. Martinez quotes an artist as saying that the fence is “an atrocious scar upon the landscape.” How ironic -- the effect of illegal immigration on the southwestern United States is exactly that: an atrocious scar on the quality-of-life landscape for all those who are legitimately here.

Roger Nicholson

Irvine

For a wilderness lover like myself, a long border fence through a rich, natural environment is a damaging pseudo-solution to the problem of smuggling people and dangerous contraband across U.S. borders. Sadly, it has come to this because the Bush administration, along with virtually the entire Democratic Party, refuses to enforce existing laws forbidding employment of people here illegally -- laws that could much more effectively control illegal immigration than could fences in wilderness areas. Enforcement of existing employment laws would encourage most illegal immigrants to depart voluntarily and would greatly discourage others from entering illegally, even without a fence.

Ben Zuckerman

Los Angeles

The writer is on the board of directors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Truly there could not be a more appropriate legacy to leave behind for the Bush administration and its misguided creation, the Department of Homeland Security, than a hulking border wall separating “us” from “them.” True to form, the project costs will soar into the billions, handing hefty sums over to contractors, displacing wildlife and destroying precious natural habitat.

If this administration is at all contemplating how its work will be viewed by future generations, it should know that our children will need look no further than this wall as a symbol of the ideals that served our current leaders.

Julie Ann Hassett

Los Angeles

If Congress wants to construct a massive fence along our southern border to prevent illegal immigration, why stop there? Why not build a huge wall topped with barbed wire around Capitol Hill to keep out terrorists? This would be outlandishly expensive, desecrate a national landmark and cut us off from the world, but I think it’s worth it. And I bet that Congress and the president just might agree, because they seem to believe that building this fence will stop illegal crossings and that it’s worth spending billions to force it through border communities while it ravages our natural landscape.

Patricia Holloway

San Clemente

It seems as though there are two possibilities along our border with Mexico. The first possibility is having no fence with trampled plants, litter, animal habitats destroyed and immigrants dying of thirst or starvation. The second possibility is a new and efficient fence that protects animals, immigrants and the ecosystem. The decision seems obvious.

Richard A. Reynolds

Lomita