Readers React: It’s time for Democrats to take responsibility for the border crisis — and to call it one

To the editor: It is most unfortunate that the infrastructure at our southern border has reached a breaking point amid reports of worsening conditions of detained immigrants, as well as the deaths of several children.

And while President Trump and the Republicans share some complicity in the lack of enacting real solutions to the problem, it is the Democrats who are most guilty of exploiting the deaths and deplorable conditions for their own political expediency.

It is the Democrats who equate “comprehensive” immigration reform with a total amnesty for anyone who is able to successfully transition across our southern border illegally, without an emphasis on defining and enforcing stricter conditions of border security, asylum requirements, and deportation.

It is also the Democrats, with their establishment of sanctuary cities and states, as well as policies that restrict local law enforcement from communicating with federal immigration authorities about inmates’ citizenship, immigration status, and release dates, that create the perverse incentives for migrants risking the treacherous trek to reach our southern border.

Jim Redhead, San Diego

..

To the editor: The Times’ editorial starts by referencing “the enormity of the migration crisis.”

A million undocumented immigrants are expected to enter the country this year. For months, major figures in the Democratic party have denied that there is any crisis at all, using adjectives such as “fake” crisis and “non-existent” crisis.

If people continue to deny there is a crisis at the border and argue for further opening up of mass immigration, it will not longer be a crisis at the border, but a crisis in Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, Natchez, Miss., and everywhere else.

David Goodwin, Pasadena

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook