To the Editor:
Re “Judge Blocks Arizona’s Law on Immigrants” (front page, July 29):
Americans should applaud Judge Susan Bolton’s rejection of the more
inflammatory parts of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law and the
racist undertones it represents.
Gov. Jan Brewer’s groundless generalizations about the undocumented
population foment fear of the unknown among her constituents, making for
good politics but bad policy. The sudden surge in scapegoating of
undocumented immigrants diverts attention from the real, well-documented
problems currently facing the nation.
Rather than using money and sound bites to take aim at a demographic
that boosts economic development and has no correlation with criminal
activity, Ms. Brewer and other governors should be rallying support to
address issues that actually pose a threat to the stability of American
democracy: an eroding public education system, unprecedented global
climate change and, perhaps most important, a broken political system
that prizes sensationalism over sensible reasoning.
Jeffrey D. Stein
Florence, Ariz., July 29, 2010
To the Editor:
Re “Showdown in Arizona” (editorial, July 29):
Once again the will of the people is overturned by a liberal judge. The
federal government has no intention of enforcing the laws against
illegal immigration. It will punish those states that try, leaving them
at the mercy of the gangs, kidnappers, drug smugglers and human
traffickers that freely cross our southern border.
What is amazing to me is the lengths to which liberals will go in
arguing for “rights” that illegal aliens have. You are so out of touch
with the majority of this country.
John Pate
Santa Barbara, Calif., July 29, 2010
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 