Opinion: All Trump wants is for California to follow immigration law. What’s so provocative about that?

To the editor: Harold Meyerson says that the president wants to punish states and cities that “treat immigrants with respect.” Meyerson is either being obtuse or is intentionally deceiving readers. (“How California can fight the extreme provocations of Donald Trump,” Opinion Feb. 1)

The president’s goal is to ensure that aliens who do not have legal status (that is not all “immigrants,” and Meyerson should know the difference) who have committed certain crimes be made known by local authorities to the Department of Homeland Security.

Federal law requires that those who have been convicted of certain crimes are to be removed from the U.S. via the immigration court system. The Obama administration made removing such aliens a priority in immigration enforcement.

Trump wants the cities to follow the law — and Meyerson thinks this is simply a matter of disrespect? No wonder the Democrats lost.

Edward S. Reisman, Santa Monica

The writer is an attorney who worked for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1996-99.

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To the editor: I would like Meyerson to be a little more clear on his fact that immigration decreases crime.

I have no doubt that an immigrant who goes through the complete and arduous process of legally obtaining citizenship or a proper visa would follow the laws of the land. There’s just that one word that our Californian lawmakers and writers like Meyerson seem to ignore: illegal, as in illegal immigrant.

Peter Welsh, La Crescenta

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To the editor: Meyerson offers several ways for California to thwart the federal government’s withholding of funds over sanctuary policies.

Any lower-court wins by the state would eventually work their way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which would probably rule with the Trump administration. California would lose the federal funds, be out the legal fees it paid to former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder’s law firm and would need to raise taxes on its residents even more.

Bob Guarrera, Laguna Niguel

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