Letters
War on terror demands stricter border laws
Regarding: "Immigration policy, not politics" (March 14, Editorial): Despite the fact that we are fighting a war on terror, President Bush has pushed to grant amnesty to illegal aliens presently residing in our country. Why is the president so obsessed with giving this gift to Mexican President Vicente Fox, instead of considering the American people? Our safety and our national security are already at risk because of unsecured borders. Passage of 245(i) will grant legal status to lawbreakers who sneak into our country by giving them the right to pay a fine and then become US residents. Why bother having laws if lawbreakers are rewarded?
Robert Evans
Matthews, N.C.
As a US citizen who came to the US as a legal immigrant, I find it outrageous that President Bush is rewarding those who break our immigration laws by sneaking into our country. That is a slap in the face to those who obey the laws. Illegal immigration imports poverty, disease, ignorance, and crime. It deprives Americans of jobs, and it's a burden to taxpayers. Any form of amnesty will only encourage more illegal immigration.
President Bush is obsessed with helping Mexico to the point that he has forgotten he is the president of the United States of America not Mexico. He forgets, it's the American people that elected him, not the Mexicans.
Haydee Pavia
West Hills, Calif.
The 245(i) bill will have an adverse affect on the quality of life in this country. In this land of democratic process, it is baffling to see such a serious issue with no referendum. The result of a vote would show clearly the desire of an overwhelming majority of American citizens to end the indiscriminate admission of those who want to come to the US.
With last week's mailing of visas to two of the terrorists involved in the events of Sept. 11, clearly there are major problems in INS policy and management. Almost a decade has passed since the first World Trade Center attack, and the policies that allowed its perpetrators into the country in the first place have not been changed.
What is wrong with this picture? Wake up Washington. We elected you to represent the people, not take it upon yourself to vote against our wishes. Protect the United States and the citizenry. We keep talking about the new world we live in. It's time for our immigration policies to reflect the seriousness of this new world.
Michael Patrey
Great Neck, N.Y.
Regarding "Tokyo irked by US stance on Kyoto" (March 12): Tokyo is not the only place "irked" by the United States' stance on the Kyoto Protocols. When President Bush is asking the world to join the war on terror, refusal to join in and help to protect the environment is both politically inept and arrogant.
The US has turned its back on this united effort of over a hundred nations who have agreed to slow global warming and further safeguard the environment for future generations. The current US decision to further its own alternative plan suggests that the US has different and more privileged standards than the rest of the world. As one of the most powerful nations in the world, our example will encourage other nations to also forge their own, less-restrictive alternatives. This is not responsible leadership.
Mr. Bush's break from the Kyoto Protocols is an effort to maintain the current US lifestyle in the face of the growing threats to the environment. This unilateral, even aggressive, posturing will foster increased animosity toward the US and will drive the nation deeper into the isolation that left it so unprepared for Sept. 11.
Chris Zappala
Brattleboro, Vt.
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