Clifton right to speak up on immigration

In a letter published in the Oct. 17 News Transcript ("Freeholder Knows County Has No Say on Immigration"), Frank Argote-Freyre accuses Monmouth County Freeholder Robert Clifton of small-minded political pandering.

This pronouncement was apparently motivated by Freeholder Clifton's desire for Monmouth County to ban contractors knowingly employing illegal aliens. Mr. Argote-Freyre blithely goes on to state that "the county has nothing to do with immigration."

On the contrary, the influx of illegal immigrants to our county is everyone's problem, and taxpayers are already paying far too high a price for the resulting unwanted sharp increase in demand for social services (largely provided by county government in New Jersey), health care, law enforcement, education and so forth.

Monmouth County taxpayers should not be unwittingly subsidizing this serious situation.

When contractors who knowingly hire illegal aliens are patronized by public agencies or private individuals the correct description is "aiding and abetting the commission of a crime."

Liberal organizations such as the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey would quickly express righteous indignation if Monmouth freeholders introduced legislation which resulted in our county's failure to conform to the very letter of the law as it relates to equal employment opportunity and the Hispanic community.

Yet Mr. Argote-Freyre (the group's self-identified Monmouth chapter director) predictably demands that Freeholder Clifton turn a blind eye toward national immigration and naturalization statutes. I wonder who the real panderer is in this case.

Mr. Argote-Freyre concludes by suggesting that this is an irrelevant issue. Like beauty, relevancy (or irrelevancy) is in the eye of the beholder. While Mr. Argote-Freyre obviously wishes to distract attention from one of the most critical issues of our time, I would like to commend Freeholder Clifton for respecting the law, upholding his oath of office and taking his responsibility as an elected official seriously.

Maurice R. Baker

Freehold Township