Regarding your story “¿Cuanto cuesta?” (June 24): I wonder how many of your readers will consider the root cause of illegal immigration: the failure of source countries to provide their citizens with education, job opportunities, social services, and civil rights.
We demonize poor people who risk their lives and leave their families for an insecure life here of arduous, low-paid work. We should be demonizing the governments of their home countries—and our own—for collusion with each other and with multinational corporations. They use their so-called free-trade agreements to arrange the world economy to benefit mainly themselves. Workers in Africa and South America raise flowers to decorate our tables instead of food for themselves. Mexican oil workers do low-paid, dangerous work, but do not share in the country’s tremendous oil wealth.
Instead of bashing immigrants, direct your anger where it belongs.
This article appears in Jul 15-22, 2010.
