Readers React: The lesson of Kirstjen Nielsen and so many others: Trump is a terrible employer

To the editor: Another one of President Trump’s Cabinet members has bitten the dust. (“Kirstjen Nielsen’s departure is just more chaos from the White House,” editorial, April 9)

When are these people going to learn that they are doing their political aspirations no favors when they tie their hopes to an inept leader who is incapable of accepting even a hint of criticism or disagreement? The day after Kirstjen Nielson resigned as the Homeland Security secretary, the director of the Secret Service, another Trump appointee, also resigned.

Evidently the only senior advisor still in Trump’s employ who has been there since the beginning of the administration is Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s harshest immigration policies, including the separating of families at the border.

The Times’ Harry Bliss ran a cartoon a few months ago depicting a 6-year-old and his Grandpa, standing in front of his classroom with the following caption: “This is my grandpa. He’s going to explain why this country is going to hell in a handbasket.” I thought it funny at the time, but not so much now.

Bob Murtha, Santa Maria

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To the editor: Miller’s ascendancy to chief hard-liner on immigration is no surprise. His anti-democratic views and rhetoric go back to his days at Santa Monica High School.

Now he has found an empty vessel in the form of our president into which he can pour his poison.

What horrible thing might it mean for the president to take a harder line on immigration, to Miller’s glee? He opposes both legal and illegal immigration and was undoubtedly thrilled when Trump announced that our country is closed.

America, where are you?

Barbara H. Bergen, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Nielsen’s ouster and those of others from Homeland Security do not indicate that better immigration policy is on the horizon, but what we can be sure of is the arrival of more tell-all books in which people will reveal how they were made to adopt Trump’s illogical policies.

Instead of just complaining about the migrant caravans from Central America, Trump should address their need to leave home in the first place.

What prompts many people to leave is crime and violence, some of which can be attributed to gangs that formed in the Pico-Union section of Los Angeles in the 1980s. Once these MS-13 gang members were arrested, imprisoned and deported to Central America, they commenced the same activity they had practiced in Los Angeles.

This will continue until the U.S. gets more involved in eradicating the gangs that cause much of the crime in parts of Central America.

Richard C. Armendariz, Huntington Beach

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