Letter: Land belongs to people here legally

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

Following the immigration raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Northern Nevada, Gilbert Cortez, president of Casa Latina Centro de Informacion in Northern Nevada, had this to say : "We feel we Latinos have been 'Bushwhacked,' charred and 'ICEd' by our government ... This land belongs to God and not to the United States."

I cannot let that remark slip by without a rebuttal. In the first place, this is not the government of those Latinos who are here illegally. This is the government of law-abiding Americans of every creed, color and persuasion who are legal citizens of the United States. So, if Mr. Cortez feels Bushwhacked , it is because of those illegals who were rounded up in the raids. Had they been here legally , this would not have happened. It reminds me a bit about the lad who cried wolf.

Yes, this land belongs to God, but it has been entrusted to the government of the United States and its people.

Somehow, sometimes when people are wrong and they know they are wrong, they will make excuses and look for every reason to blame it on someone else - in this case, the U.S. government.

Glen J. Gillette, Las Vegas