Villaraigosa’s endorsement

Re “Mayor urges Latinos to back Obama,” July 13

In an address at the National Council of La Raza conference, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged Latinos to vote for Barack Obama as the best hope to reform the federal immigration policy. In his address, he invoked immigrants at Ellis Island and was thankful that there had not been a wall to keep Irish immigrants out.

The mayor is either ignorant of the facts of Ellis Island immigration or just blatantly misstating them. Those who arrived through Ellis Island applied to enter the country legally, and not all who applied were admitted. Many who were sick or unskilled were turned away.

While I agree we need to address immigration reform, and we must assimilate the 12 million-plus illegal immigrants who are already here, we do not need a mayor of a major city, who may hope to become governor of California, to distort the facts to suit his political purposes.

Curt Redecker

Lancaster