Editor:

I am writing in response to the letter written by J.D. Bowns on Nov. 7 (“Illegal immigrants should not get resident tuition”).

Browns, how do you know illegal immigrants do not pay taxes? Think on this way: How does an illegal immigrant get a job within a legal company in the United States?

Let me, someone who used to be among these people on previous jobs, give you a hint-they pretend to be legal.

The best way to pretend to be legal is to get a job with the proper documentation or fake the proper documentation-which means they’re still paying taxes, including Social Security, which they will not be able to claim once they decide to retire or need for whatever reason.

As chemistry professor Ronald Ragsdale would put it, “You’re right, but for the wrong reasons.” Illegal immigrants should not be allowed to get driver licenses because it is the way they get all other fake documents needed to get employment. They should not be allowed to study at the U, or any other public school, because they are illegal.

I believe someone would need good moral character to enter the U, and regardless of their reasons, illegal immigrants are committing a crime by being here illegally.

The issue is that the state not only allows, but also wants, the illegal workers in Utah. It would be very easy to make it hard, or almost impossible to let them live here.

Up until recently, the state was issuing Social Security numbers to anyone getting a driver’s license. How do you think a lot of these immigrants got their jobs?

Truth is, almost all of these people are productive members of our society. The only reason I see we have to stop them from being successful is simply to avoid a big exodus from other countries into the United States.

Luis Alves

Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering