People like me who are upset about the recent demonstrations — which, in less than a week, miraculously changed from Mexican flags and the burning of the American flag to substantially American-only flags and “We want to say the Pledge of Allegiance� — are not anti-immigration as The Star would have the public believe.

The problem is the universal substitution by the media and the politicians of the inappropriate word "undocumented" (a neutral word indeed) for the word "illegal."
My ilk object to the presence in this country of illegal aliens and especially illegal aliens who demand to be legitimized and to receive the benefits of citizenship as a "reward" for their being so clever as to disregard our laws and customs.

At one time, I was a Foreign Service officer of the United States, a vice consul, stationed in Genoa, Italy. My job was issuing visas. The laws underlying the issuing of visas are designed to screen out immigrants with insufficient skill or substance to assure that they do not become a burden on the city, state or county where they decide to reside. They also are designed to screen out criminals and persons with infectious diseases.

At the time I was a visa-issuing officer, the system also limited the number of immigrants to the proportion of immigrants of the past from any given country of birth. I can assure you that Mexican citizens can pass these tests and can receive visas. However, the vast number of illegal aliens in this country, Mexican and otherwise, has not been screened, and most probably do not meet these standards. They should not be here.

— Dick Hawley, Thousand Oaks