To the editor: I cannot overcome the image of the first flat of Los Angeles Times of the masked border patrol agents (“'Who are these people?' Masked immigration agents challenge the Local Police, sow fear in Los Angeles, “” June 24). I am daughter of immigrants and an immigrant. My parents survived the Holocaust and a childhood of hate towards them for being Jews. They came to the United States for the opportunity that they would provide for free, practice their religion without fear and give their children a good life.
I am happy that they are not here to see the ugliness of uniformed, armed and masked men who take care of our streets. My parents would have quickly remembered their past. What I see in the image are dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. I don't see a democracy. I take my head and ask: “Why?”
Esther Friedberg, Studio City
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To the editor: Given the image on the cover, one could be convinced that the application of immigration and customs pursues the “worst of the worst.” But have we seen or heard about something about that? I never feared that a gardener in my neighborhood hid an AK-47 on his host or that men out of Home Depot were armed and ready to face the ice. And you know what? We have not seen evidence that such threats exist.
If the federal authorities say they go after the worst, then they should do that. But wearing two or three weapons to confront a keys of keys is really excessive.
Monty Armstrong, Irvine
