If Gallegly opposes illegal immigration, why not NAFTA as well?

U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly professes in the Feb. 1 Acorn to be concerned about illegal immigration. But if he is, why doesn't he work for repeal of the North America Free Trade Agreement?

It's economic policy which drives migration, and if economic conditions were better in Mexico, far fewer people would migrate to the U.S.

Most immigrants come here because policies like NAFTA and economic globalization took their jobs back there.

Some have called migrant workers "economic refugees of the global economy." In fact, NAFTA has pushed at least 2 million low-income Mexicans off the land as cheap U.S. agricultural commodites have flooded the Mexican market.

These Mexicans may then migrate to a border town seeking work, only to find that the corporation which dumped U.S. workers to hire cheap labor just across the border in Mexico has now run away to find even cheaper labor in China. NAFTA is bad for U.S. and Mexican workers.

It's good only for the relatively wealthy in both countries.

Far from working to repeal NAFTA, Gallegly voted in recent history for CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, a clone of NAFTA. So don't be surprised to see even more jobless Central Americans migrating to the U.S.

The contradiction here is that Gallegly supports economic policies which cause mass migration of workers- and job loss for U.S. workers- and then complains about the migration which results, and portrays himself as a great defender against illegal immigration.

So Mr. Gallegly can describe about how he supports screening for criminal immigrants in Ventura County jails, but few migrants are criminals.

They're human beings who are desperate for work, and any one of us in their shoes might cross a border to find work or be united with our family. It's the economic policies which are supported by Gallegly which are a prime cause of the migration we observe. Gallegly's support for the war in Iraq has also created horrific suffering there, including the mass migration of tens of thousands of people.

So if a hungry Mexican or a war-torn Iraqi comes to your door, Mr. Gallegly, please don't give them a sermon about being illegal immigrants. You're one of the people who has forced their migration, and now you, and all of us, are facing the consequences.

It's time to stop scapegoating migrant workers, and to change the economic policies which cause migration in the first place. Jim Yarbrough Newbury Park