Regarding Elton Gallegly’s July 29 guest opinion, “American jobs must be reserved for Americans,” the congressman suggests that if we deported 11 million illegal immigrants we would generate 11 million jobs for American citizens.

This implies that U.S. businesses, given equally qualified illegal immigrant and citizen candidates, have preferentially hired the illegal immigrants. Gallegly has a lower opinion of the typical U.S. businessman than I do.

Mr. Gallegly also proposes that states like California, which allow illegal immigrants into state colleges and universities, stop offering this “free ride” to illegal immigrants.

In California this program was enabled in 2002 by AB-540, and less than 1 percent of college students are enrolled under this program. Illegal immigrants enrolled in California’s colleges must satisfy the same entry requirements as U.S. citizens, including a high school diploma, 15 required courses, including U.S. history and four years of English, and minimum SAT or ACT scores.

Mr. Gallegly argues that this would save state money, but so would denying admission to legal immigrants who lack permanent resident status and go back to their native countries after being educated here.

Since he’s a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, I’d like to hear more about what Mr. Gallegly is doing to solve our immigration problems and less about what he thinks others should do.
Nick Fotheringham
Thousand Oaks