Camp Razing a Disgrace

For an example of sheer callousness, it’s hard to match (let alone beat) the statement by Ron Yardley, a county Department of Health Services spokesman, who proclaimed the razing of the Valle Verde migrant worker encampment in Carlsbad to be an “accomplishment.” (“Valle Verde Migrants Join Ranks of Homeless as Makeshift Camp Closes,” Feb. 2)

No matter that the department’s actions displaced hundreds of working poor from makeshift shelters during the winter cold and rain without any real threat existing to complaining homeowners’ health or safety. Mr. Yardley cavalierly dismisses the problem of homeless migrants as having “nothing to do” with his agency.

Before the Department of Health Services again makes its abatement powers available to homeowners whose sensibilities are offended by the presence of immigrant workers in their communities, that agency would do well to consider whether it’s more a part of the problem than of the solution. Moreover, it’s incumbent on other county departments to work fast on the provision of both temporary and permanent shelter for migrant workers.

GLORIA SOTO

Oceanside