Illegal is illegal, period

Re “Mayor chides ICE for workplace raids,” April 10

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says that federal agents should target criminal gang members and not legitimate businesses. But federal agents have no interest in “legitimate” business. Immigration and Customs Enforcement targets businesses that choose to employ illegal aliens. Apparently, Villaraigosa is incapable of differentiating legal from illegal.

James Hopkins

Long Beach

--

I was outraged by Villaraigosa’s call for the Department of Homeland Security not to enforce federal laws against hiring illegal immigrants. Vigorous enforcement of our immigration laws is vastly needed in Southern California.

The idea that the mayor of the nation’s second-largest city would stand with outlaw businesses that flout the law rather than DHS is shocking.

These businesses cheat the community by hiring illegal labor and cheat the government by not paying income and Social Security taxes, workers’ compensation insurance and healthcare costs. They cheat the community, which has to pay the social costs of the illegal labor, and the American workers who see their jobs lost and wages cut. These companies must be fined and their chief executives jailed.

Outlaw companies must be put out of business.

Thomas Marchetti

Glendora