Votes of Support for Rohrabacher

It is interesting how often one story clarifies another. On April 28, you ran a front-page story, “Latinos Call on Rohrabacher to Apologize.” The following day you had a story, on Page A4, titled “Legislators Ask Congress to Help State’s Economy.”

In the first article, Latino leaders, ostensibly representing American citizens, urged Dana Rohrabacher to apologize for a remark he made about illegal aliens who, of course, are not citizens and are, presumably, outside the field of interest of a Latino citizen group. Ignoring that inconsistency, one of the Latino organization spokesmen contended that immigrants (the illegal was left out) really don’t cost society very much.

In the April 29 story, however, we learn that a group of California legislators had traveled to Washington (At their own expense! Will wonders never cease?) to beg Congress to appropriate $1.1 billion to spend on “newly legalized” immigrants--1.6 million of whom are in California. We also learn that California needs to budget $637 million for this purpose in 1993. I don’t believe it is a logical fallacy to point out that newly legalized implies that these persons were once illegal immigrants.

There may be more to the total cost of illegal immigration than even bogyman Rohrabacher brings out.

In yet a third story, “Agents Accuse 16 of Producing Fake Documents” (April 30), we are told that illegal aliens are able to buy “green cards” and Social Security cards for about $100 for the pair. These counterfeit documents are then used to access social services available only to those who are here legally. This story seems to provide at least a partial answer to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund official who, last week in a story you carried, tried to discredit Rohrabacher with the simple question (which I paraphrase): How do illegals get social services that are available only to citizens?

Absolutely marvelous reporting.

JOHN B. ALLEN, Villa Park