Illegal Immigrants Beating the System

Re “Illegal Immigrants’ Best Form of ID Is Ingenuity,” May 12: I am unimpressed. It should have been headlined “101 Ways to Beat the System.” Praising the people who violate the laws of our country by living here illegally is insulting to the legal citizens, to people who are here on visas and to the people who are waiting to enter the U.S. through legal channels. As a Democrat, I am very disappointed with Assemblyman Gil Cedillo’s proposition to further reward criminals.

Uninsured motorists are indeed a problem, but Cedillo is not proposing to fix this problem, as rewarding illegal immigrants with identification cards and amnesty only provides incentives for even more people to come across our borders illegally. Efforts should be made to end this cycle instead of perpetuating it. Businesses that hire illegal immigrants should be heavily penalized, and, yes, the government needs to make efforts to deport people who are living here in violation of our laws.

The U.S. government needs to start actively protecting our citizens from a rapidly expanding population, overcrowded schools, urban sprawl, uninsured motorists, the burden on the taxpayers from paying for services provided to illegal immigrants and the host of other problems that mass illegal immigration brings.

Nicole Michal

Upland

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What I learned growing up in the U.S. was that being a citizen meant I had to obey the law. The 1.5 million illegal immigrants in California obviously do not qualify for citizenship since they feel no need or obligation to obey the laws of this country. If they had any respect for our laws, values or legal system they would not be here illegally.

Why don’t the media cover the real issue: why illegal Mexican immigrants come to America in the first place? Why don’t we start focusing on ways to help Mexico strengthen its economic status and stabilize the government instead of signing treaties to legitimize the exploitation of its situation?

If we can send $3 billion in financial aid per year to a certain country in the Middle East, why can’t we spend a fraction of that helping a neighboring state achieve self-sufficiency? This would give the U.S. a prospering and friendly neighbor state that would be a staunch ally and relieve an already out-of-control illegal immigration problem. Take a poll of Mexican immigrants who are here illegally, sking whether they would have come to the U.S. if they could have found similar jobs in Mexico under a stable government.

Debra Boka

Laguna Niguel