America Has Real Enemies: Mexico Isn't One Of Them.

How should America deal with the fact that millions of people live in our midst who came to this country illegally, most to work and make a better life for themselves and their families?

Today on Laura Ingraham's show Hugh Hewitt said something that captures the polarization of partisan politics fairly well. "Democrats see an illegal and see a voter. Republicans see an illegal and see a worker." He went on to say that we should see an illegal and see a threat. Not a cultural or an ethnic threat, but a security threat.

For some time now conservatives have been riled up over the presence of illegals in this country and a lack of security at the border. Some use the language of war and describe the flow of illegals across the border as an "invasion."

Mister Americano hates talk like this. Mister Americano lives in San Diego and doesn't see illegals as a threat. Mister Americano sees an illegal and sees a neighbor.

Mexico is not America's enemy. The flow of Mexicans across the border is not an invasion. Mexicans do not risk arrest and their lives to come to our country to do us harm. They come to America for the same reasons everybody before them came here; to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Immigration in general benefits our country. Immigrants from Mexico, legal and illegal, benefit our country as well. Far from being invaders or security threats they are security assets.

The US exists in a world of demographic change. The survival of our country depends on population growth. The countries of Europe are in decline in no small part because of their population declines. The US is one of the few fully developed nations with high population growth. Immigration helps us to sustain a level of population growth that will protect our status as the world's only superpower.

It's in our security interest to let more people in and to legalize those who have already chosen to live here. This doesn't mean the US shouldn't protect its borders.

If it means building a fence to protect our border, then, fine, let's get on with it and build one. But if we're going to build a fence, let's make sure we include plenty of big, wide-open gates.

We build a fence and leave open the gates because we want to make sure we don't cut off immigration while we secure our border. Rather than building a fence to stop immigration, let's use it to channel a considerable number of legal immigrants into our country.

For those illegals who are our neighbors now, grant them amnesty. The US is lucky that the illegals here now share so much of America's values. Unlike the immigration problem facing Europe, we have immigrants who could readily assimilate into American society. To be fair to the legals who are here and in line, put the illegals at the end of the line for citizenship, but let's not deport them and let's get them out of the shadows.

We should also increase substantially the number of legal entries permitted into the country so that nobody who would be tempted to come here illegally has to because there is a legal spot available to them instead.

The current drive against illegal immigration is fueled by the fact that the United States lives in a time of war. The war is not simply a shooting war. It's an ideological war. Mark Steyn has identified the crux of the conflict as a battle of civilizational confidence. He has argued that the West's weakness against the Islamists is that we don't have enough confidence in our civilization. (Here.)

The current conservative attitude towards illegal immigration is a sign of civilizational insecurity not confidence.

We have nothing to fear from fellow North Americans who have come to this country illegally so they may work and better themselves and their families. Nada! We should show more confidence in the ability of our own society to absorb this wave of immigrants and we should do what must be done to make it happen. Face it, that's what Ronald Reagan would do, the godfather of us all.

-tdr

Technorati: borders, illegal immigration, Immigration, Mexico, war