How can we tell if Trump truly thinks immigration is a national emergency?

To the editor: Wait, what? Is there a national emergency for mass deportations? (“Trump confirms deportation strategy will include national emergency declaration and military,” November 18)

If that were the case, and if national leader-elect Donald Trump truly believed it, he would support the conservative plan proposed earlier this year by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) to begin addressing this emergency.

But no, he didn’t want the problem to be solved. He wanted to campaign on this issue.

Why should I believe that you want to solve the border issue now? Involving the military (a legally problematic strategy) would allow him to gain more dictatorial power.

How much will this cost taxpayers? And what will it cost our economy when we achieve this? Millions of jobs could be left vacant with no one to fill them.

As a preview, we can look at China and Japan. For different reasons, birth rates do not support the economy they want. If what I have read is true, we are in a similar boat, but it is legal and illegal immigration that helps us maintain our prosperity.

William Elmelund, West Hollywood

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To the editor: The Times should know by now that, from his first term onwards, Trump, unlike most politicians, has kept his campaign promises.

Trump is doing everything from moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, to lowering taxes, to defeating the Islamic State, to reducing job-busting regulations, to expanding the US-Mexico border wall. That’s why he was re-elected.

It sends a message to people who want to cross into the US illegally right now: Don’t bother.

Marcus Kourtjian, Northridge

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To the editor: I have a modest Jonathan Swift-style proposal for the politicians and citizens who vote for them and their desire to deport immigrants (legal or undocumented).

For each person scheduled for deportation, there must be a documented individual or U.S. citizen who is ready to take that person’s job (farm or factory worker, fast food worker, or any other job). If a replacement cannot be identified, the person targeted for deportation should be granted stay status.

If, as I suspect, there are no groups of people willing to take on these roles, the impact on our economy will be catastrophic.

David Esquith, Northridge

This story first appeared on: Los Angeles Times.