Nov. 25, 2025 7 AM PT
To the editor: I’m highly supportive of immigrants coming to the United States to escape the conditions of their homelands, be it legally or not. That being said, I’m not supportive of Americans who take advantage of that desperation to earn a profit on their labor.
The recent article on the ICE raids and the car wash whose employees were rounded up by ICE described the work as “low wages for back-breaking labor” (“This L.A. car wash depends on immigrant labor. Can it survive Trump?,” Nov. 23). In the next paragraph, the car wash owner was quoted as saying, “Americans don’t want to do this work.” That’s a true statement, but it’s an incomplete statement. He should have said that they don’t want to do this work for the wages that only a desperate worker would accept.
The fact that he can’t make a profit based on his business model unless there is a way that he can coerce wages not commensurate with the required labor is telling. There are automated car washes that offer a chamois and vacuums for you to complete the process. All labor is dignified, but taking advantage of someone’s legal status is not.
Ron Garber, Duarte
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To the editor: Gustavo Arellano’s column about the raiding and, in some cases, closing of car washes in Southern California leaves me scratching my head (“Car wash workers already had it tough. Then immigration raids slammed them to the ground,” Nov. 18).
I live in Mar Vista and two of my local car washes have been closed for months. That’s a thriving business that was employing dozens of people that is now shuttered. And for what? I don’t see unemployed people lining up for jobs at these car washes — clearly, no one’s job has been stolen by the people working there.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are a massive waste of money and resources, have disrupted the lives of thousands of people and trampled on individual rights.
Can anyone point out anything good that has come of ICE’s show of force this year? I don’t think so.
David Tempest, Mar Vista