In The Arlington Times July 16 article, “Locals pitch in to help arrested immigrants, Lisa Engle would like us to feel sorry for the children of illegal immigrants; well, we do.

So what, we should condone crime? Sure, it’s not the children’s fault but children everywhere are subject to the actions of their parents. That is just the way life works.

Joel says he is not a criminal but people like “Rosa” and Joel knew they were breaking the law and made a bet that they wouldn’t be caught. Now they’ve lost the bet and are trying to mitigate their losses by invoking the children as sort of a “get-out-of-jail-free” card. As far as lying about where she was, Rosa would better serve her son by saying, “I broke the law and now we have to pay for it.” It is, after all, only the truth.

As far as having to give up cell phones, cars, insurance and borrow money, even good citizens have these same hard times — and not because they broke the law.

Kirk Boxleitner has written a “puff” piece in presenting Lisa’s side of things without even asking any tough questions. It has been suggested that contributions to Engle’s enterprise are in order. I suggest that people think very hard about what message they want to send to lawbreakers. Perhaps the money would be better spent enhancing the effectiveness of the border patrol.

Dave Allen