Illegal Immigration, L.A. Culture Clash

In response to the Peter H. King article, “They Need We,� May 26:

We get to read another article slanted to the sympathy side of the “illegal� immigration issue rather than the reality side. I appreciate the plight of the people trying to enter this country illegally, but their disadvantage in their own country does not make it OK to break into mine. Illegal entry into the United States is illegal. It’s a crime. The motivation, no matter how noble, of anyone breaking the law does not excuse it.

If you reread the article as though it is about any other crime instead of illegal entry, it suddenly becomes much less sympathetic. How about, “Poor Sergio hoped that the guards would be asleep so he could break into your house or trespass on your property or paint graffiti or spit on the sidewalk.�

If it was about 1 million “undocumented� people massed at the border ready to cross all at once instead of just Sergio, would you be as liberal? By the way, the Berlin Wall was built by those “Commies� to keep their citizens in, not to keep illegal aliens out.

BARRY RITTER

Northridge

* Re “The Culture Clash in South-Central L.A.,� Commentary, May 29: Terry Anderson hit the nail on the head and buried it when stating that the issue of immigration is numbers, not race. But the reason unskilled immigrants get the job for day work is because they are at the right location at the right time. I have yet to see a white or black person standing by the curb hailing my truck down for work.

I hire because I can get an employee for the day right now, when the work needs to be accomplished. Not because their skin passes the litmus test to my approval. Also, I have yet to pay less than $6 per hour plus lunch. If Anderson knows where I can hire for $3 an hour, he has better resources than the rest of us.

JOHN S. DAVIS

Canyon Country