To the editor: Manuel Pastor and Miguel Santana — authors of the Aug. 11 op-ed article, “What Kamala Harris needs to remember about California’s anti-immigrant past” — are no doubt two very well-meaning individuals. However, their framing of the issue makes a series of false equivalencies.
Trying to equate mass deportations of undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. to efforts aimed at curtailing the surge in migrants seeking asylum at the U.S. border is a bridge too far.
I marched against Proposition 187 in 1994, and I’d march against it tomorrow if it was on the ballot again. However, public support for immigration over the long run requires a muscular, fair and pragmatic approach at the border.
Pastor and Santana fret over the MAGA vote but sell short the real concerns of moderate, generally pro- immigrant voters who want a rational response at the border. These moderates include many Democratic voters, including those from immigrant households.
Michael Baker, Los Angeles
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To the editor: I recently spent nearly three weeks in the hospital recovering from a heart attack, and many of my nurses and doctors were immigrants or the sons and daughters of immigrants.
They were from countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Nigeria and Mexico. Without exception they were skilled and caring, and they helped me recover from being on death’s doorstep. One nurse told me his father had a lawn care service and made him work with him during the hot summers so he would be motivated to go to college.
As I looked up at their faces, I was saddened to think of the way that former President Trump vilifies immigrants and how this must make my new friends feel. His remarks show an utter lack of understanding of what is happening every day across America.
Philip Reed, Long Beach
