Posted by Bejamin Norbert, a resident of another community, on Feb 18, 2008 at 2:23 am

I wonder whether the perps, if and when apprehended, will turn out to have been in this country illegally. Perhaps this city (Mtn. View)should reconsider its implicit support of illegal immigration, as manifested through its day-laborer center!

Posted by , a resident of the Whisman Station neighborhood, on Feb 18, 2008 at 9:19 am

Seems like it would be good to put more GoogleWiFi nodes in with WebCams to help police investigations.

Posted by ., a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Feb 19, 2008 at 5:07 pm

To say that the shooters could have potentially been in the country illegally, and that Mountain View having a day-laborer center is endorsing illegal immigration is entirely racist. being anti-immigration is being racist. No person is illegal. While the killing of Jeff Johnson in this incident is horrible, to make it a case of illegal immigration is a wrong move.

Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Feb 20, 2008 at 11:49 am

If the shooters were in the country illegally then immigration definitely is an issue and not racist at all. Illegal immigration is not legal period! It is a slap in the face to all people that immigrate to this country legally. Illegal immigration should not be tolerated. It seems that Mexicans have the option to immigrate to this country illegally easier than any other country due to close proximity to the border and lax border protection while other countries are forced to follow a legal immigration process. Illegal immigration isn't an option for those countries with the Atlantic and Pacific oceans as the border. Is this fair immigration for the rest of the world who are forced to follow legal immigration? Allowing illegal immigration is racist since the only country able to utilize it is Mexico. To level the playing field and not be racist you would need to allow illegal immigration to all other countries on par with Mexico.

Posted by Enough!, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Feb 20, 2008 at 5:57 pm

To anonymous:

I have never heard it put exactly that way, but I like your arguemnt and agree with you.

Posted by David Parks, a resident of the Whisman Station neighborhood, on Feb 20, 2008 at 7:29 pm

The point that the resident from Cuesta Park neighborhood is correctly making is that the original comment regarding illegal immigration was based on no more knowledge than the suspects were Hispanic. From that an argument was made for tightening immigration reform.

I can not see this comment as anything but racist. There is no other logical connection between being Hispanic and immigration reform other than judging a person by his or her race, in this case, even worse, on the general ethnicity "Hispanic", which is all we are presented in the article.

If you want to make a case for illegal immigration, make it in the proper context and forum, and make it using honest evidence. The argument posed by both Benjamin and the Shoreline West resident both attempt to wrongly tie illegal immigration to violent crime when no link has been found in this case, and neither provide any useful statistics beyond this case. This is a pure emotion play (making an argument for immigration reform in the context of 2 Hispanics committing a violent crime), and is a clear violation of the basic principals of logic, thus the arguments must be dismissed as baseless within this context.

Posted by immigrant orthopedic surgeon from mountain view, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Feb 25, 2008 at 6:09 pm

perhaps we should ban japanese imports as well, seeing as a toyota avalon was implicated in the murder. in fact, let's kick everyone out except real americans. that would leave navajos, hopi, etc. the line between legal and illegal immigrants is defined by who is in power and not by any race's implicit right over another's to occupy an area. let's drop the hypocrisy and the knee-jerk response to the very generic term "hispanic" and deal with the issue at hand. many "caucasians" with a tan look hispanic.