Letter to the Editor, NYT (unpublished)

To the Editor:

I was glad to note the skeptical tone of your editorial on Mr. Bush's changing discourse on immigration ("Bush on the Border," April 11). After all, it's one thing to call for "a practical answer," but something else entirely to make concrete, non-exploitative proposals. But this issue is important less for legislative reasons, as you point out, than for human rights concerns. In the Bay Area alone, as the San Francisco Bay Guardian recently reported, hundreds of immigrants have been (at times violently) deported over the last few months, severing families and sowing fear in the community. Abstract language from above will not change the reality on the ground.

Daniel Nemser
San Francisco, CA

Letter to the Editor, NYT (unpublished)

To the Editor:

Re "U.S. Churches Go 'Green' for Palm Sunday" (April 1): While
certain recent projects, like the eco-palms documented here, may
benefit limited numbers, overall NAFTA has been a disaster for
small-scale Mexican farmers. According to Oxfam, real prices of
Mexican corn have declined by more than 70 percent since NAFTA came
into effect in 1994. Consequently, 15 million small-scale farmers
have seen their way of life become less and less tenable, translating
into a substantial increase in poverty and Mexican immigration to the
U.S. It is no surprise, then, that the trade agreement "has come
under far more criticism than praise."

Sincerely,
Daniel Nemser
San Francisco, CA