Border wall: Letters to the editor, Feb. 1, 2019

Democrats needed to secure border

Malik Simba asks why the GOP-controlled Congress failed to allocate $5 billion for a border wall. Better questions: Why didn’t Obama push for true immigration reform when the Democrats had an even larger congressional majority rather than string Hispanics along before passing DACA by executive order (which effectively kept the Dreamers in citizenship limbo) as the 2012 elections approached? Why did so many Democrats oppose 2007 bipartisan immigration reform championed by President Bush and Sens. Kennedy and McCain?

Simba asserts that the wall isn’t important for border security. But U.S. Customs and Border Protection studies show that illegal crossings have dropped by over 90 percent in the four sections where barriers ordered by Presidents Clinton and both Bushes were erected.

Simba claims that Democrats will bargain to fund the wall in exchange for DACA security, but Pelosi and Schumer haven’t mentioned DACA in recent discussions and refused to discuss wall funding in exchange for ending the government shutdown.

Finally, Trump’s failure to mention the killing of two Americans by white males is no more relevant to the issue of border security than his failure to mention the epidemic of black-on-black homicide in our inner cities.

Legal impacts with border wall

Can Trump really subvert our existing laws? Can he ignore the Environmental Protection Act and skip all of the extensive studies and public participation that it requires? How about the Endangered Species Act and the numerous rare plants and migratory birds and mammals that exist along our border with Mexico?

Then there is the matter of acquiring the private land holdings along the planned construction route if the owners are opposed to the project. The legal process involved in those actions will require a great deal of time and that will be up to our courts.

Border wall would offer protection

A recent article by Andrew Fiala was a bunch of theoretical nonsense, not applicable to the real invasion that is taking place and liable to continue if we don’t do something like building a wall.

Invasion is equal to war and we must defend ourselves. Does Mr. Fiala realize the consequences of these continuing caravans? Why do wealthy people build walls around their houses these days? Because they are the most likely people to be invaded and can be compared with a wealthy country like the USA.

We need to face reality and accept the situations that are facing our country. We must not be so gullible as to ignore the terrible things that are going on at our borders and remain idle. If one of Pelosi’s or Schumer’s children would be killed by an illegal alien, they might have a different view!

Her DMV visit was a real pleasure

Recently, a letter to The Bee praised the efficiency and courtesy of the employees of the DMV at Sierra and Blackstone, and I would like to do the same.

A few weeks ago I suddenly realized that I needed to renew my driver’s license. Appointments at the DMV were not available till late February, so I went to the office shortly before 8 a.m. prepared to spend most of the day there. The good news is that the process took less than two hours. I had expected to have plenty of time to review the well-written DMV handbook, but only got through half of it before my number was called to pay the $36 fee, take a vision test, have my picture taken, and answer some “knowledge questions” on a computer. I had been able to take a few practice tests at dmv.gov the day before, so I ran into no trouble there.

Many thanks to all who made my DMV visit a pleasure.