How to tell if Trump really thinks immigration is a national emergency

On By Littum

To the editor: Wait, what? A national emergency to carry out mass deportations? (“Trump Confirms Deportation Strategy Will Include National Emergency Declaration and Military,” Nov. 18)

If so, and if President-elect Donald Trump as a national leader really believed it, he would have supported the conservative plan proposed by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) earlier this year to begin addressing this emergency .

But no, he didn’t want the problem solved. He would campaign on it.

Why should I think he will solve the border problem now? Getting the military involved – a legally problematic strategy – would just allow him to seize more dictatorial power.

How much will it cost taxpayers? And when it is done, what would it cost our economy? Millions of jobs may be vacant with no one to fill them.

As an example, we can look to China and Japan. For various reasons, their birthrate does not support the economy they desire. If what I am reading is correct we are in a similar boat but what helps keep us prosperous is immigration, legal and illegal.

William Elmelund, West Hollywood

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To the editor: The Times should know by now from his first term that Trump, unlike most politicians, keeps his campaign promises.

From moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, to lowering taxes, to defeating the Islamic State, to reducing job-killing regulations to expanding the US-Mexico border wall, Trump delivers. That is why he has just been re-elected.

Right now, he’s sending a message to people who want to cross into the United States illegally: Don’t.

Marcus Kourtjian, Northridge

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To the editor: I have a modest suggestion, a la Jonathan Swift, to the politicians and citizens who voted for them and their desire to deport immigrants (either legal or undocumented).

For every person to be deported, there must be a documented person or US citizen who is prepared to take that person’s job (whether a farm or factory worker, fast food worker, or any other occupation). If a replacement person cannot be identified, the person targeted for deportation should be granted status to remain.

If, as I suspect, there aren’t ranks of people willing to fill these roles, the impact on our economy will be catastrophic.

David Esquith, Northridge