Re: my post #36 on this thread: Reading the Left Angeles Times, these letters were published in today's Slimes:

About the only stereotype missing from your portrayal of folks down here in Georgia was the potbellied, cigar-chomping, shotgun-toting sheriff ("Obscure Law Used to Jail Day Laborers in Georgia," Aug. 21).

When did acceptance of illegal immigration and loitering become the litmus test for tolerance? It is not a crime to look for work, as one of the self-admitted illegal aliens quoted in the story complains. But it is a crime under federal law to enter the country without permission and to work here. It is a crime in virtually every jurisdiction in this country to loiter. Zoning laws, by definition, restrict what people can do and where they can do it.

"A backlash against immigrants" is nothing more than decent, hard-working citizens demanding that their government enforce laws that protect their jobs, safety and quality of life.

Jane Russell
Atlanta


I had to laugh when I read about the landscaping contractor in Forsyth County, Ga., who hires illegal aliens and says, "But they're not crime people. They're here to work." Since when is entering this country illegally not a crime? As long as the illegals only flooded the Southwestern states, Congress turned a blind eye to it. Now that they're invading the rest of the country, maybe this problem will get the attention it deserves.

Gregory Daniels
Fillmore