Immigrants vs. immigrants

Re “Migrant has tough message to others,” Column, July 20

Immigrants like Escondido City Councilman Sam Abed and me can afford to rationalize that we came to this country by legal means. I came with a student visa and, on receiving an electrical engineering degree, got on the path for U.S. citizenship. Abed’s path to citizenship was paved through a visitor’s visa and his marriage.

Enough of immigrants beating up on “illegals” and accusing them of draining our tax dollars and committing all criminal activity. We, the legal immigrants, must stop being hypocrites waving banners while living in gated communities. Abed and I crossed the Atlantic; most of the people Abed is beating up on have only crossed the border.

Nick Patsaouras

Tarzana

Steve Lopez proclaims that illegals have “strong backs and a limitless desire to succeed” and thus provide Americans with a source of cheap labor. He neglects the flip side of this equation: that these same “guest workers” are suppressing wages for Americans.

Illegal immigrants from Latin America are here for one main reason: They can make several times more money doing the same menial labor. This is not Klan-speak as much as simple economics.

Provided that an ordinance banning multiple families from occupying a house or apartment is enforced equally, it is not racist to expect a residence built for a single family not to house several.

J. Richard Singleton

Los Angeles