To the Editor:
I was a fervent supporter of Barack Obama throughout his presidential campaign, but I was concerned about his plans for the approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. He said something about bringing them out of the shadows by creating a path to citizenship, but gave no details.
Now I learn from your Sept. 30 front-page article “Immigrant Crackdown Leads to 1,800 Pink Slips” that the firings of 1,800 employees at the American Apparel factory in Los Angeles “have become a showcase for the Obama administration’s effort to reduce illegal immigration.”
The administration seems to have no concern for the hardships that will result for the children and elderly relatives supported by the wages earned by these hard-working, taxpaying immigrants, who, by the way, will be forced to return to the shadows.
Joan Potter
Mount Kisco, N.Y., Sept. 30, 2009
To the Editor:
I am a manager of one of the busiest movie theaters in the Silicon Valley. When I hear that there are some jobs that Americans won’t do, I look at the former engineers, machinists and other skilled workers whom I have cleaning up auditoriums and restrooms, every one of them screened to make sure they are here legally, and realize there is absolutely no truth to it.
While reading your article about the firing of illegal immigrants, I did not feel that this was the loss of 1,800 jobs at American Apparel, but rather the opening of 1,800 potential jobs for people who are here legally.
If we really need more immigrants working for us in our country, then we should be working toward liberalizing immigration, not endorsing illegal immigration.
Edward K. Smallwood
San Jose, Calif., Sept. 30, 2009
Note from KBJ: Don't you love the euphemism "undocumented immigrants"? It makes it sound as though these immigrants lost their documents. They're illegal aliens! They broke our laws! When the amnesty crowd resorts to manipulative rhetoric, you know it lacks confidence in the soundness of its position.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 