Readers React: Story of the ‘Dreamers’ on an iconic California freeway sign

To the editor: Born in Los Angeles and residing in San Diego for most of my adult life, I have seen these “caution” signs depicting an immigrant family running across a highway along the 5 and 405 freeways all my life. They had become so ubiquitous, I never noticed that they were being removed and now all are gone. (“Last of iconic illegal immigration crossing signs has vanished in California,” Feb. 10)

What I found illuminating is that when they were initially installed, they were a clear warning sign to be aware of pedestrians dangerously crossing the freeway. Your article, reminding me of these bygone road signs, highlighted a much more poignant fact about the image depicted in these signs.

They show a father and mother desperately attempting to cross a hazardous roadway with their young daughter in tow. That image of an innocent young girl is the image of a “Dreamer.”

Gene E. Schwartz, San Diego

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To the editor: Despite one backhanded jab at President Trump and the probable intention of encouraging sympathy for her subjects, your reporter showed us that self-deportation is not as bad as it sounds. (“‘It’s so hard right now’: For a mother who self-deported to Mexico, days of feeling lost,” Feb. 7)

The people in the story are slowly but surely finding a new life back in Mexico, after having squatted in Gardena for years. If millions of Guatemalans tried to squat in Mexico, neither the government nor the people would stand for it. Yet we are expected to, and we’re branded “racist” if we don’t.

How absurd.

Daniel Benn, Los Angeles

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