Anyone know where this paper is politically? ...anyway, the letters are more in our camp than not.

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http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cct ... 620892.htm

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LETTERS: THE SUNDAY TIMES
Readers comment on ICE and immigrants
ICE actions wrong

It's time to speak out against the recent actions by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), which have targeted Latinos in our community.

These are not hardened criminals plotting to destroy our security, but decent people in search of the American Dream, perhaps like my own mother and brother who crossed the border over 50 years ago.

My mother valued hard work, education and pride in country. She never accepted public assistance, encouraged us to excel in school, and was proud to become a U.S. citizen. At 18, my brother enlisted in the Army and served two tours in Vietnam.

I am appalled at the recent actions by ICE agents who have scoured our neighborhoods, reportedly in search of criminals with outstanding warrants, separating families and children, traumatizing young children, and violating the most basic rights upon which this country was founded.

It is time for those of us who can remember the struggles of our parents to speak up. Let's not be ignorant to the realities these people face every day, forced to leave their homelands in search of a better life due in part to the influence of American and international companies in Latin America, and the broken-down immigration system wrought with years of delays.

Esmeralda A. Okendo

Concord

Keep up good work

Finally, after years and years of inaction by our federal government (Democrats and Republicans alike) our government is cracking down on illegal immigrants who are breaking our laws and sneaking across our borders. I say hooray for them and I hope they keep up the good work.

If you are here legally, you have nothing to worry about. If you are here illegally, go back where you came from, learn our language and customs then apply the legal way. Until you do, you are not welcome, and I hope you are caught and deported.

We need to amend our Constitution to prevent children of illegal immigrants from becoming automatic citizens of our country. We should not provide law-breakers with amnesty or citizenship.

If you want to be a citizen of this country, obey our laws and apply the legal way, and you will be accepted with open arms.

John Walker Sr.

Pleasant Hill

Aiding and abetting

Reader Bud Wakeland (Letters, Jan. 16) sides with columnist Ruben Navarette Jr. in calling for employers of illegal immigrants to be incarcerated.

Bravo! While we're at it, how about the employers of the armies of yard workers who daily groom and manicure our lawns? Yes, I'm talking about homeowners.

Our insistence on using our checkbooks to maintain our premises provides employment for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, right here in the Bay Area. Six days a week, neighborhoods are teeming with workers revving leaf blowers, string trimmers and chainsaws, all at the invitation and direction of the California homeowner. It'd be just plain hypocritical to exclude so many employers who routinely "look the other way!"

Wakeland also decries our government's unwillingness to enforce immigration laws. Here again, I have to agree with him.

Inexplicably, our local and state law enforcement officials refuse to help enforce immigration laws already on the books. It's high time our local police joined with the federal authorities to deal with this problem.

Peter G. Kendall

Orinda

Problems in Mexico

The illegal immigrants' new enabler, Richmond's Mayor McLaughlin, is correct. The logical consequences of breaking the law is living under terror. It seems that she approves of people breaking our laws. Sweet! She then blames the United States for the plight of Mexicans and others in the Third World. Typical!

ICE is finally doing the job which should have been done decades ago, arrests and repatriations of those who broke our laws. Keep it up, ICE! I hope we see you in Pittsburg soon.

It is true that Mexico has some serious problems. It has far too many people for the jobs available. Family planning programs there have failed, but this should not be our problem.

Where are the Benito Juarezes and the Emiliano Zapatas who challenged the status quo? Mexico has had a corrupt leadership for many decades. This is where their problem lies.

What I find interesting is that when everything else fails, these groups pull out the old, tired "basic human rights" card.

Maria Ramos asks, "For whom are these rights?" These rights are for people who do not break our laws, madam!

Dawn Muse

Pittsburg

They are not victims

I am tired of people and this newspaper making victims of illegal immigrants! They should be scared! They are breaking the law and getting away with it. When was the last time you saw the Concord police arrest anyone for loitering on Monument Boulevard?

They pay no taxes and get free health service and schooling. They commit crimes and are in gangs and prisons on taxpayers' dollars.

We have traitors like Reps. Ellen Taucher and George Miller who want their votes over the citizens they are supposed to serve! Shame on them and the people who vote for them!

Unless we enforce our immigration laws, then we all should get a free pass to break all our laws!

Don Malone

Concord