Re: “Tough choices” [News, May 7]: This attempt at tugging on heart strings is proof as to how far this once terrific newspaper has fallen. Ngoc Tran is currently doing jail time for her second felony conviction. The upshot of the article is how unfair it is to her children that their mother, after finishing her sentence, will likely be deported by an uncaring Donald Trump.
These children, who are portrayed as victims of Donald Trump’s views on deporting resident aliens who come here and commit crimes, are truly victims. They are not, however, victims of Trump. They are victims of an uncaring mother, a woman so devoid of clear thought that she not only became a drug user but was selling that poison to our kids.
Are we a nation of laws? Are there consequences for one’s actions? This article does nothing to make us a sounder, safer society. It appeals to the witless, who emote in lieu of using clear thought.
— Nancy and Ed Leonard, Dana Point
Sob story
The only way the Register could have tried to increase sympathy for Ngoc Tran (felon slated for deportation) would have been to include one of those greeting card sound-makers, so that when you turned the page the theme from “Love Story” played softly in the background. Sad story, yes, but such is the consequence of many bad choices.
— Mary Litwinski, Dana Point
Redemption?
How much weight should society give to the possibility of redemption for anyone? With the onus of being deported added to the punishment of a crime, this is critical. This issue will arise again and again with the young people either abandoned or left on their own after arriving in the U.S. either legally or illegally.
I don’t know the details of Ngoc Tran’s crimes beyond what was printed, and that certainly looks bad, but America was once the dumping ground for the criminals and other undesirables of England. Did these men and women miraculously change into upright citizens upon entry, mostly continue their criminal ways, or largely suffer through poverty, servitude, lack of education, housing blight and societal discrimination for perhaps more generations? We know the answer to this, so what weight do we want to give this particular woman’s background and her chance for redemption in deciding her and her children’s future?
— Jean Samuel, Laguna Hills