MAILBAG:

In the flap over the latest efforts to address illegal immigration, I have read in newspapers and heard comments (on TV and radio) that these people are all honest, hardworking individuals. That statement is just as wrong as saying they are all dishonest and only here for our welfare money. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between those two erroneous conceptions. By our own government’s estimate, 10% of them are criminals, not counting their illegal border crossing. At 12 million estimated to be in our county illegally, that means about 1.2 million are criminals.

I have a cabin in the desert in eastern San Diego County that is in a small community about 30 miles from the Mexican border. We often have illegal border crossers coming through the area. They leave a huge amount of trash behind that volunteers try to clean up, but that is not the most serious problem. Our houses get broken into frequently, and it is not just from dying immigrants looking for water and food. They steal anything that they can carry away. I have lost a number of things adding up to several thousand dollars.

Since the break-in of my cabin, I secured it to make entry more difficult and anything of even slight value (including my phone and TV remote) goes into a gun safe when I leave. It cost me about $8,000, more than I lost, to secure the place, but it goes beyond monetary value, as anyone who has experienced a home burglary can attest to. It is a personal affront. Some of the homes in that area have had four or five break-ins (possibly more) if they didn’t go to the steps that I did.

It angers me when I hear or read those words that they are all honest and hardworking. It isn’t just one or two people who break into our homes.

In my case and others in that area, it was usually a large group of people who broke in. I estimated about a dozen people were present in my break-in, because I followed their tracks for about a half-mile across the desert. They were also apparently supplying an established camp because they took eating utensils, blankets, matches, and three flashlights (they left two that didn’t have good batteries) in addition to other items of monetary value. I did eventually find my cordless phone out in the desert, 2 1/2 years after they stole it. The desert sun had not been kind to it.

I can’t be accused of “Mexican bashing” here because the Border Patrol agent told me that from the size of the footprints, it looked as though they were all Asians with the exception of one,who was probably the smuggler leading them. They entered through a window only 12-by-18 without drawing any blood on the many glass shards left in the frame.

As a Border Patrol agent once told me, “People need to be aware that some very bad actors are coming across our border.” Now, I don’t sit outside in the evening near my cabin without my friends Smith and Wesson and Winchester. I never used to even think about doing that. Times have changed!

FRANK COLVER

Rohrabacher’s attacks on reform bill correct

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is so totally correct (“Rep. attacks reform bill,” May 18). We have been sold out if this bill passes. The only good thing in the bill is the English-language-only mandate. The rest of the bill is an invitation to vote against anybody supporting it. Thank God for Rohrabacher — I wish he were my congressman.

PHYLLIS MORRISON