Immigration cases

Re “Illegal reentry into the U.S. increasingly leads to prison,” March 16

If the U.S. attorney’s office cared more about protecting the community than generating statistics, we would see a greater emphasis on the prosecution of offenses involving guns, drugs and greed rather than a disproportionate emphasis on immigration prosecutions.

These cases are prosecuted because the defendants (and their families, which invariably include citizens) are low-hanging fruit and it is an easy way to generate numbers. It’s too bad that justice, fairness and the interests of our community are secondary to that political agenda.

Evan A. Jenness

Santa Monica