Immigrants Find ‘Sanctuary’ in L.A.

Re “ ‘Sanctuary’ Laws Stand in Justice’s Way,” by Heather Mac Donald, Commentary, Jan. 19: I cannot believe what I just read. Dozens of dangerous thugs who have been deported for such crimes as murder, assault with a deadly weapon, etc., can sneak back into Los Angeles and the police, knowing who they are, can do nothing because of an LAPD rule -- Special Order 40. This “sanctuary” rule, a testament to the political power of immigrant lobbies, puts all residents of Los Angeles, legal and illegal, at risk.

How is it that a deported thug who reenters this country, thus committing a federal felony, cannot be arrested without the police officer being treated like a criminal for violating the LAPD rule? Are our politicians and police so afraid of a Hispanic backlash that they will do nothing to correct this “politically correct” circumvention of the law?

Why do we, the citizens of Los Angeles, allow Special Order 40 to exist? When did the safety of the city’s citizens become secondary to the unfathomable and unreasonable demands of immigrant lobbies?

Michael Edwards

Northridge

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In the many years I worked in Pico Union, I learned that the biggest political thugs were people who never take the time to know the community, people like Mac Donald, who belong to right-wing think tanks that have made an industry of promoting hate under the guise of policy discussion.

Connecting Special Order 40 to gangs is cowardly and wrong. Special Order 40 was designed to protect Salvadoran, Guatemalan and other immigrants from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and police collaboration that resulted in deaths like those of Salvadoran deportees -- deportees like Chirino Amaya.

Amaya fled the “democracy” and death squads sponsored by conservative icon Ronald Reagan. Amaya was later deported from Los Angeles and subsequently killed by thugs. Most police officers I know don’t want to become enforcers of immigration policy. Somehow, Mac Donald only spoke with an officer who’d back her extreme claims. That’s political thuggery.

Roberto Lovato

Los Angeles