I read the opinion piece by Hazel Davalos (“Prepare, but don’t panic,” March 2) with interest. Also, in bold caption, “It’s time to take a stand in solidarity with our immigrant communities who are so deeply connected to every part of our community here in Santa Maria.”
Illegal immigration is the most one-sided political issue of recent times, and all legitimate polls show that upwards of 87 to 91 percent of Americans want immigration to be legal immigration. The entities that benefit in various ways from illegal immigration are still trying to justify their position. Who would this include? I would like to quote a former congressman, who years ago spoke before an assembly of high schools students. He stated that various entities that benefit from illegal immigration and cheap labor are responsible for the lack of immigration law enforcement. He also specifically mentioned that the largest pressure groups against enforcement were some farm organizations and the Catholic Church.
We presently admit 1.2 million legal immigrants from all over the world each year. There are 125,000 from Mexico. They all go through a screening process, which includes fingerprinting, so we know who they are. Our unscreened, illegal immigrants are not all bad or undesirable people. However, statistics show that there are a high percentage of undesirable and criminal types among the illegal population.
Why do we have ICE facilities located throughout America, including here in Santa Maria? Rumors that ICE is going after all illegals here is totally false. However, as they concentrate on criminal-type detentions, if they encounter some persons with MS-13 gang tattoos or know someone is a gang member, of course they take them in even if they haven’t yet been convicted of a crime but are illegal aliens. How can anyone be against this procedure of protecting the public, but they’re mainly super liberal do-gooders who are. Their excuse is that such deportations (of any kind) break up families.
I find it ironic that some Hispanics march for illegal immigrant rights on Cesar Chavez Day, yet they don’t even know why they are marching. Cesar Chavez, a great American, was strongly against illegal immigration because it depressed farmworker wages. He finally agreed to support the 1986 Reagan Amnesty only after our government sponsors said that it would be the final and last amnesty and that our immigration laws would be enforced thereafter.
In the commentary by Davalos, it was claimed that American people still believe that everyone belongs and everyone (especially Mexican illegals) are welcome. Not true! Trump’s main attraction was his promise to clean up the illegal immigration problem, which is slowly destroying America. Uncontrolled borders and not knowing who our immigrants are is not logical. As for her comment on campaign rhetoric, hate, and in general those against uncontrolled illegal immigration—that would make almost all Americans racists. This would include our legal immigrants, Hispanic Americans, and many other groups. Does the author really think that the millions who immigrate here legally like illegal immigrants?
Does Davalos really believe it is beneficial to have bankrupt hospitals, crowded classrooms, declining water supplies, endangered wildlife, failing highways and bridges, growing landfills, overpriced poorly constructed housing, polluted air, uncertain energy supplies, resurgent diseases, shrinking farmland, spreading urban sprawl, gridlocked freeways, and vanishing forests and wilderness? Isn’t it better to improve what we now have than add more people who contribute to the above? Also, it should be noted that many of our immigrants now don’t bring needed skills with them, therefore we are oftentimes importing poverty. As for farm labor, which is very hard and underpaid work Americans won’t do, and which illegal immigrants must do, because they have no other choice if they want to eat. If we give them another amnesty, the social costs to taxpayers will be tremendous. There is a very large percentage of 1986 amnesty receivers who are now on welfare or disability because when they reach a certain age, they can no longer perform that hard work.
Here locally, does Davalos like some of our high school academic classes that contain 40 students? Does she think it is normal to have sevem security personnel and a full-time Santa Maria Police Department officer patrolling our high school campuses? Is she aware they are there to prevent another major riot, control gang intimidation, drug sales, and bad actors in classrooms? Does she like all of the portable classrooms that are necessary to accommodate the influx of new students who are here illegally?
I challenge Davalos to write a letter to the editor to explain why we need more illegal immigrants, and how many more is enough.
In summary, the negatives of unscreened illegal immigration far outweigh any positive effects, and those who are in favor of illegal immigration should stop referring to them just as immigrants rather than illegal immigrants, or undocumented workers. m
Sally Rodriguez is a member of Central California Immigration Reform. Send your thoughts to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 6, 2017.