‘One doesn’t have to be soft on immigration to be a true American, and no one has to be hard on immigration to be one, either. What one has to do is to see the problem for what it is: a human tragedy ...”

Ignacio M. García
Brigham Young University, Utah

IMMIGRATION DEBATE

I’m sorry to see [Ruben Navarrette, Jr.] falling into the same trap as other former immigrants do (“A Healthy Division,” October). They seem to feel that they have to prove something in order to be seen as mainstream. No, one doesn’t have to be soft on immigration to be a true American and no one has to be hard on immigration to be one either. What one has to do is see the problem for what it is: a human tragedy that is happening worldwide. Poor people—along with some opportunists—are moving from their native lands to find jobs, less violence, and a place where their children can grow up with better opportunities. We will have to—in this country and Mexico—develop an immigration policy that is workable, and in my mind, which will keep the best and brightest of Mexico in that country so that they can resolve their society’s problems.

Ignacio M. García
Brigham Young University, Utah

What part of illegal immigration (“Special Report: Divided Over Immigration,” October) do people not understand? Webster’s New World Dictionary
defines illegal: Prohibited by law; against the law. That is what illegal means. No matter what nationalities immigrants are, if they enter this country illegally, then they have committed a crime (an act committed or omitted in violation of a law, defined also from Webster’s). Too simplistic? Not to the millions of people who have, and will, enter this country legally.

R.M. García
Lubbock, Texas

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