Legal vs. Illegal Immigration

* Speaking as one who strongly opposes rewarding illegal immigration, I would like to respond to Msgr. Jaime Soto’s July 20 column, “Supervisors Should Value Immigrants.”

Human nature requires that we all be motivated in order to act. The overwhelming explosion of illegal immigration into the United States is absolute evidence that there are rewards awaiting here. Remove these rewards, you remove the incentive. There will be no motivation and there will be no cause for action. Yes, it is that simple.

It is unfortunate Soto chooses not to specifically address the issue of illegal versus legal immigration.

Debating whether immigration should be expanded, reduced or temporarily halted is not where we find Soto laying his efforts. No, it is with the treatment of those who are already in the United States and always within the context of racial injustice.

While Soto appears to only address the needs of Latinos, he does not seem willing to differentiate between the true U.S. citizens of Central and South American heritage and their illegal counterparts who choose not to play by the same rules. Racially speaking, wouldn’t the Latino community benefit if illegal immigration stopped? With such a large portion of illegal immigrants being Latino the associated stigmas and prejudices are an unfortunate but unpreventable natural byproduct.

ROSS CLARDY

Sunset Beach