Letter to the editor

Be honest about source of illegal immigration problem

Well, I am confused. Your front-page headlines "Carson City simmers after immigrants' rally," but the writer only mentions 1 million illegal immigrants demonstrating across the U.S. The only beef mentioned in any of your immigration stories is about proposed sanctions against illegal aliens and the U.S. employers who illegally hire them.

On the editorial page, you pointedly state that the "... stoppages were meant to portray: Immigrants - including millions here illegally ..." But the editorial never mentions the complaint, if any actually exists, of or against legal immigrants.

Adding to the confusion is the adjacent guest column by Catarino Chavez, a legal immigrant. Mr. Chavez spotlights a corrupt, incompetent Mexican government, which is aggressively sending their poor north rather than reforming the country. And, as Mr. Chavez points out, Mexico is not a poor country, just poorly run, despite huge oil reserves and two fabulous coastlines.

Why is the editorial board reluctant to be candid about the truth of this story?

Isn't it true that north of the border we have corrupt U.S. employers illegally hiring cheap labor, cheap politicians seeking to gain votes from illegals at the expense of the integrity of the U.S. Constitution and culture, and several presidential administrations unwilling to uphold the Constitution? And all of this occurs as Mexican criminal elements and foreign terrorists exploit our porous borders in a time of war, posing great danger to U.S. citizens, both native-born and immigrant.

South of the border we have a country blessed with resources, populated with hard-working, family-oriented people, but controlled by a corrupt, inept government in a society riddled with crime and gangs. Fox and company are simply exporting their problems in the same way Castro emptied his prisons and shipped Cuba's criminally insane to Florida and as Tito shipped Yugoslavia's unemployed, the casualties of failed communism, to western Europe. Mexican coyotes are exploiting the Mexican poor. Why aren't human-rights activists protesting in Mexico City against Fox? How has Mexico's failure and corruption become another "cause célèbre" for the anti-Americans and their media enablers? Why is it so difficult for American media to tell the truth? How can we solve problems if we won't define them honestly? How does this editorial and your coverage of this nuanced issue comply with your stated mission of "commitment to integrity" and bringing 'light to truth'?

I am for immigrants, legal immigrants, who come to the U.S. to assimilate into American society with respect for U.S. law, culture and custom. I favor a guest- worker program for honest hard-working Mexicans who are not seeking citizenship. I am for tight border control with or without fences, however the experts decide. I unequivocally support U.S. sovereignty.

I support peaceful revolution in Mexico to overthrow their corrupt, incompetent government. I reject these anti-American demonstrations as a fraud and cover for Mexican corruption and anti-Americanism.

I condemn all U.S. politicians and U.S. employers who seek to exploit this situation for political and financial gain and at the expense of the rule of law. And I favor a reform of U.S. media, which badly needs a recommitment to truth.

Leo Petrini

Minden