Letters: GOP chairman’s anger for workers misdirected
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GOP chairman’s anger for workers misdirected
Re: “California sells out workers who make tips” (Page A6, Jan. 8).
Instead of directing his outrage at Gov. Newsom and California Democrats over the bill on tips for low-wage heroes, perhaps the GOP Santa Cruz County chairman could direct it at his fellow GOP lawmakers, who all voted against the last two minimum wage bills, AB 1228 and SB 2, to pass the California Legislature.
Tips are voluntary, wages are not. In addition, California requires employers to pay the full state minimum wage ($16.90 an hour) to tipped workers, unlike federal law (FLSA) which sets a $2.13 an hour base wage for tipped workers taken advantage of by states such as Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
What do those states have in common, Mr. Chairman?
Susan KotilaSan Jose
ICE agent’s intent is in question
Re: “Driver bears culpability in tragic shooting” (Page A6, Jan. 11).
In regard to the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer and the subsequent reporting on it, Kathry Tomaino writes, “And just when did it become acceptable to disobey police orders and flee?”
First, the officer claimed that he shot in self-defense because he feared for his life.
Second, if the driver was indeed fleeing, which is what all of the video of the situation shows, the threat of imminent harm to the officer didn’t exist.
Finally, nowhere in the law is it stated that “Disobeying police orders and fleeing” carries a death sentence with no due process.
If the officer feared for his life, he should have taken appropriate actions to save his life. In the case of a car moving toward you, that means getting out of the way quickly, since shooting at the driver is not going to stop the car.
George LicinaSanta Rosa
ICE agent disregarded DOJ policies in shooting
Re: “Driver bears culpability in tragic shooting” (Page A6, Jan. 11).
A letter on Sunday asks, “When did it become acceptable to disobey police orders and flee?”
When did it become acceptable to fatally shoot somebody for disobeying a federal agent? When did it become acceptable for an ICE agent to disobey Department of Justice policy to kill a civilian mother?
Since 2014 DoJ policy says agents are not to block vehicles with their bodies and that moving out of the path of a vehicle is the first option. Further, firearms may not be discharged at a moving vehicle unless no other means of defense exist.
John HedblomPalo Alto
Few parallels between ICE, WWII internment
Re: “Immigration raids evoke WWII trauma” (Page B1, Jan. 11).
The article rightly honors the tragic history of Japanese American incarceration during World War II — a grave injustice where over 120,000 people, most U.S. citizens, were forcibly removed and imprisoned in remote camps solely because of their ancestry, without due process.
However, directly equating that experience to today’s immigration enforcement is a stretch that risks inflaming rather than informing debate. World War II policy targeted American citizens en masse based purely on ethnicity, resulting in years of indefinite detention. Current enforcement, while strict, centers on immigration status violations — primarily deporting noncitizens who are undocumented or have removal orders — under existing laws and with immigration proceedings.
Such parallels minimize the unique constitutional horror of the internment and cast modern policy debates in overly charged, divisive terms. We should preserve this painful history accurately, learn from it to guard against real abuses, and discuss today’s complex immigration issues without forced equivalences that obscure more than they clarify.
Johanes SwenbergLos Gatos
Faulty thinking hasUS on dangerous path
Re: “Trump urges oil companies to speed work in Venezuela” (Page A1, Jan. 10).
As President Trump counts his chickens before they have hatched, Big Oil balks at his encouragement, pressuring them to quickly seize the Venezuelan oil that he has dethroned the Venezuelan leader to possess.
No mind, for the 100 lives lost in his pursuit. Exxon and ConocoPhilips fear obstacles that present a need to be resolved for them to pursue his directive, having had their assets seized before.
Again, faulty thinking by Trump leaves major oil companies and us pursuing a dangerous path. With Trump’s lack of truthfulness, he cannot be believed or trusted.
Susan DillonMorgan Hill