Unfettered Letters

Illegal labor’s effect on economy

What plans are being made to fix the construction depression regarding housing? How are the men and women who were and are displaced by illegal immigrants going to get their jobs back? Many builders and small-business owners have been gleefully subverting the income tax and Social Security systems by paying “contract” wages. Illegal aliens happily take untaxed money across our border.

How is that going to be fixed? How do local workers protect themselves against van loads of workers who are allowed to camp on the job site and undercut the cost of labor so drastically? How do we protect ourselves from poor construction practices when building inspectors turn a blind eye?

Maybe the housing depression is a blessing in disguise. It puts workers on an even field: unemployment. You don’t need building inspectors either, if there isn’t any construction. Trickle, trickle, trickle.

Carol A. Clopton
Kansas City

Learning a foreign language

David B. Smith’s letter (1/27) expresses a fundamental misunderstanding of teaching foreign language. Having the teacher speak the language of the student is in fact a hindrance, not an advantage. I speak from the personal experience of teaching English as a second language to students of more than 10 native tongues.

Learning a foreign language is an uneven process that takes more time for some, less for others. For those interested, there is abundant evidence that the majority of immigrant households in the U.S. speaks English as the primary language at home after the second or third generation.

We have a lot bigger fish to fry than the imagined “cultural invasion” mentioned by Mr. Smith. The convenience of whipping up hysteria over immigrants is a serious distraction from those issues that we have seen repeated throughout history.

Tom Owens
Kansas City

Teaching English to immigrants

Since Timothy Johnson (1/16, Letters) claims that too many Americans are unwilling to teach English to immigrants, I should point out that it certainly helps if the teacher is bilingual. That’s one reason it’s much easier to learn English in the U.S. than to learn Spanish in Mexico.

The reason so many immigrants don’t make the effort to learn our principal language is because they don’t really need to anymore. It is the sheer volume of immigrants, not lack of teachers, that makes them “able to spread their languages across our country.”

This is more than mere immigration, Mr. Johnson, this is cultural invasion. So please temper your “disgust” the next time you feel like telling someone to “shut up.”

David B. Smith
Kansas City

Speaking English in America

There has been a healthy debate in Letters on freedom of speech and the requirement, or lack thereof, to learn and speak English in the U.S. over the last few weeks. The debate has been fueled by labor secretary appointee Hilda Solis’ decision to conduct part of her selection speech in Spanish.

Every American ought to read Theodore Roosevelt’s thoughts on “Americanization” from his later years. “We have room for but one flag, the American flag ... for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

What message would it send if Mexico’s labor secretary spoke to that country’s citizens in English?

Mike Curley
Leavenworth

Help immigrants learn English

I am one American who is disgusted with other citizens complaining about foreign immigrants being unwilling to speak English.

Many letters to The Star imply that immigrants do not want to speak English. The immigrants want to speak our language. Unfortunately for them, too many Americans are unwilling to teach. As a result, the immigrants have been able to spread their languages across our country.

Too many Americans argue that if immigrants do not want to speak English, then they should go somewhere else. Well, I have this to say: If Americans do not want to teach immigrants English, they need to shut up.

Timothy Johnson
Kansas City

Kauffman Scholars program

Kauffman Scholars officials should see to it that the children they are already educating are legal citizens (11/6, Local, “Scholars program trips over hot topic”). No matter how complicated entering this country legally is, hundreds of thousands have done it. Why should these families have an advantage over those who have followed legal avenues?

By the way, my own father and two siblings supported families and contributed to society despite being orphaned and having only eighth-grade educations. How many other laws should we ignore because we have different views?

Juanita Mise
Olathe

An economic indicator?

It seems that the economy is finally turning around. I actually found a U.S. citizen who would perform a job that a foreign national had previously turned down.

Dallas Register
Harrisonville

Kauffman Scholars program

The Kauffman Foundation needs to rectify immediately the error it has made by denying students college financial assistance because they are undocumented (11/6, Local, “Scholars program trips over hot topic”).

Which is better for our community: well-educated young people who will come back to their community and return that investment by working in the community, or disillusioned young people who instead learn that adults can’t be trusted to follow through with their promises?

These students have worked long and hard, focused on the future dream of a college education. To deny this is to take the heart out of a program that has successfully engaged and encouraged low-income youths in their education.

The decision to break this promise will affect future students for years to come and undo much of the good the program has achieved.

Pamela Crandall
Leawood

We owe immigrants nothing

Regarding Tim Suttle’s letter (10/1, “Kobach’s callous tactics”), this is an excellent example of the entitlement mentality of today’s culture. Undocumented workers are here illegally. We don’t owe them an education, health care, or any other form of social welfare. This is not a socialist country.

It’s very simple. Immigrate here legally, obey the law, and pull your weight. This is the real “foundation” of our country, Mr. Suttle!

David Youmans
Merriam

Illegal aliens don’t deserve tuition break

Why doesn’t Tim Suttle champion the cause to send poor Americans to college (10/1, Letters)? Send the — as he said —undocumented immigrants (meaning illegal) back from where they came.

Russ Henderson
Overland Park

I was encouraged by Kris Kobach’s successful efforts to convince the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Sacramento that California’s tuition law violated a federal law that prohibits illegal aliens from receiving post-secondary education benefits that are not extended to U.S. citizens. American students initiated this lawsuit because they did not want illegal aliens to receive a tuition break that American students were being denied by the state of California.

On 10/1 Tim Suttle wrote that “one of the hallmarks of any great country (is): Care and concern for the poor and for the alien.” This country does have care and concern for legal immigrants. I am the grandson of one.

Illegal aliens violate federal immigration law and several state laws. They continue to displace millions of American workers. Federal and state governments must start enforcing the law to protect American jobs and our economic security.

Frank Nedrow
Shawnee