I think it is the government’s responsibility to protect all of its citizens so I agree with solutions such as Bloomberg’s plan for Willets Point in Queens to an extent. It is not sanitary or safe to live in the kind of conditions those people are living in, but it is also not fair to kick these immigrants out of the only place they know in this country. It might not be completely beneficial for immigrants to live in ethnic enclaves where they do not need to learn English or any skills that could move them up in the world, if that’s the way they like to live then I don’t think it’s our place to take that from them. We should find some way to improve their living conditions without kicking them out or completely taking over their homes with luxury apartment buildings and shopping malls. I don’t know what that way is, but hopefully it can involve both the improvement of the conditions of enclaves such as Willets Point and the advancement of the economic status of the immigrants living there.

– Patricia Ruiz