Antonovich’s Illegal Alien Ad

Cheers to courageous Mike Antonovich for his stand on the truth about illegal invasion of our borders. And raspberries to Archbishop Mahoney on his predictable, biased defense of it.

As a first-generation American interested in ethnic matters, I worked for a dozen years in the barrios of the San Fernando Valley as a welfare social worker and probation officer. I know, firsthand, problems caused by illegals. Recently, as a concerned citizen, I visited the border to personally study the current situation. What I learned alarms me.

I talked to those in the best position to know who is crossing our borders and why, the border patrol agents. They report illegals arrive with food stamps in their pockets, Social Security cards and stubs of unemployment checks. They have no fear or respect for U.S. authority and when apprehended, cross and recross until they succeed, each time giving a false name and origin.

I left with immense respect for this relatively small number of border agents who are falsely maligned, misunderstood and understaffed as they try to maintain control of our border rights. And since half of those I interviewed are Mexican-Americans, it is noteworthy that they disagree with Mahoney that those crossing are “desperate.” Some are; most are not. They are economic refugees in search of bettering themselves.

In the process, they take good jobs in factories, construction, services, and numerous other trades from legal Mexican-Americans, blacks, whites and Orientals. They will work for less, true, but that regresses us to the pre-union era when my father worked for a pittance in the coal mines. How can any humane person defend such a corrupt and destructive system?

SONYA JASON

Woodland Hills