Marcela GarcÍa foretells the woes that would befall companies in the restaurant, agribusiness, construction, landscaping, and newspaper delivery sectors if the United States were to enforce its immigration laws (“The US economy runs on immigrants,’’ Ideas, Jan. 17).

Not once does she consider the possibility that companies in these industries could just increase wages to attract American workers in place of illegal immigrants. In this regard, she falls in line with the bipartisan consensus that employers are entitled to an endless supply of cheap labor and illegal immigrants are entitled to stay in the country that they broke into.

García seems to evince no sympathy for American workers, many of whom have suffered stagnant wages or have been displaced from the labor force as a result of mass immigration. The resulting sense of economic insecurity is driving the remarkable campaign of Donald Trump. Finally, a candidate is running on the novel platform that the American president should put Americans’ interests first.

Matthew Burwell

Cambridge