Letters to the Editor

Should local police enforce federal immigration policy?

Regarding Nik Steinberg's April 24 Opinion piece, "Don't make police squeal on illegal immigrants": Here is another writer confusing illegal and legal immigrants. Citizens do not object to legal foreign workers or those trying to immigrate legally. American companies solicit and employ illegal immigrants to get cheap labor.

It is the job of the police to enforce all laws. Local police stop mail theft even though it is a federal crime. They should also enforce other federal laws.

For illegal workers, there are several crimes being committed. A few are: using a fake Social Security card, using someone else's card and other identification, driving without a license or insurance, and more. These are crimes a citizen would be prosecuted for.

The answer is a workable visa system so employers could hire foreign workers legally.

Luther Browning
Corpus Christi, Texas

Regarding Nik Steinberg's recent Opinion piece on enforcing illegal immigration: Mr. Steinberg should get out where cops such as myself are. Our resources are not stretched and we are happy to be empowered to help enforce the laws.

Joe McBride
Coto de Caza, Calif.

In response to Nik Steinberg's recent Opinion piece on illegal immigration: It is not only the duty of police officers to uphold the law (as it is yours and mine), it is their job.

Immigration law can be changed. If you feel it should be, then you can contact your local congressman. Until the law is changed, it must be obeyed.

John Ramsay
Herndon, Va.

Regarding Nik Steinberg's recent Opinion piece on local police and federal immigration law: The choice between enforcing the law and making cops squeal on undocumented workers is a false one. The key is to focus law enforcement not on immigration law, but on labor law.

Our labor laws protect all workers, illegal as well as legal. Cracking down on employers who pay less than minimum wages, don't pay overtime, and do not provide safe and healthy work environments would remove the incentives for employers to employ undocumented workers, without the need for targeting the undocumented workers themselves.

Eric Klieber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Appeal to boys' fiction tastes

Regarding Janine Wood's April 25 Opinion piece, "The way to get your kids to read": I read with great interest and sympathy Ms. Wood's article on getting boys to read, but found her solution unconvincing. Girls, after all, are every bit as socially connected as boys, yet are more likely to read. As the father of a boy of the Internet Generation, may I point out an option she overlooked? Boys like stories well enough, but as a group, they don't like the same stories as girls. Wood's brother's affection for Brontë – or my own for Austen – are exceptional.

I fed my son comic books and "Star Trek Academy" books until he had the brain and vocabulary for novels, but the novels were not stories of relationships but of adventure.

You can always make a boy do something – even clean a room, if you go about it the right way. But if you want him to enjoy an activity, it's his interests and tastes that must be paramount.

Robert Piepenbrink
Herndon, Va.

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