Letter: Columnist has it wrong on immigration

Friday, May 19, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

The New York Times' John Tierney had a column in the Las Vegas Sun on May 17 essentially advocating open borders on the basis that illegal immigrants were just here to mow our lawns and fry our burgers.

Well, at least he's an honest advocate for open borders, unlike most of the people hiding behind the "comprehensive reform" label with no intention of following through on controlling the border or hiring practices.

It's too bad Mexico won't let him emigrate there, because they have something quite close to what he seeks for this country, a small professional elite that controls all the resources of the country and a sea of peons who are starving to death and trying to flee the country every which way they can.

He should have read Bob Samuelson's column in this week's Newsweek that shows that increasing the level of impoverished people in a country has adverse consequences. He's figured it out and presented it in a clear way that even a mainstream journalist could understand.

What we really need is to remove all immigration restrictions on educated professionals from other countries, including doctors, lawyers, bankers, stock brokers, educators, engineers, architects, corporate executives, managers and particularly journalists.

Maybe if Tierney's wages were driven down to the point where he could no longer even afford to have an illegal immigrant mow his lawn, he would develop some appreciation for what the middle class in this country is going through right now.

Elwood Anderson, Las Vegas