Perfect environment for self-deportation

During the Los Angeles protests, Mayor Karen Bass posted on social media: “As a result of immigration raids, parents are afraid to take their kids to school, workers are unsure if they should go to work tomorrow, and young people are worried about their future.”

Isn’t this the perfect environment that President Donald Trump has cultivated for the more cost-effective self-deportation in which immigrants entering the country illegally are given a free one-way plane ticket and a $1,000 cash bonus?

I believe the entire illegal immigration community is watching the protests closely, and many are starting to make contingency plans to leave the country [“Lessons in LA for all of us,” Editorial, June 11].

Now, to escalate the motivation for self-deportation, Trump should sign an executive order eliminating all social services and welfare to all those who entered our country without legal permission. No more free housing, free food stamps, no cellphones, no electronic benefit transfer cards.

Coupled with this is the realization that their free-ride gravy train is over, so we might expect a stampede to the airports to take advantage of Trump’s self-deportation incentive. Now that’s what I call making America great again!

 — Luana Dunn, Medford

I was disappointed by the characterization of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown in “Deported LI brothers hope for a return to U.S.” [News, May 25]. The story said the administration is executing a “nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.” In fact, the administration aims to deport immigrants of all kinds, regardless of their legal status, including legal residents, those with protected status, asylum seekers, green card holders, and student visa holders.

Many deported individuals were living legally in the country, and some have been deported in error. The administration has made it clear that legal status has little bearing on deportation.

The administration is indeed engaged in a crackdown — but it’s against immigrants and foreign nationals of all kinds.

 — Rosemary Olander-Beach, Baldwin