Peggy Noonan on immigrants and immigration

Back in December, I wrote that I hated Ms. Noonan because she's such a great writer. Or, as a commenter said on my blog a couple of months ago, "I want to write like her when I grow up."

OK, I don't really hate her, but today's column is another excellent (and depressing) example of why she's a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and I'm, um, a guy with a blog in Portland, Oregon. She spends 13 paragraphs recounting her feelings for immigrants (strong and affectionate); her memory of the post-9/11 New York melting pot (all cultures coming together to support America); and her experiences in the recent immigration rally (a huge mass of people who -- mostly -- were "peaceful and high-spirited," and also well organized).

But it's not just how she starts the column that I love; it's also how she finishes (I highlighted my favorite lines):

Does my feeling for immigrants, and my afternoon at the march, leave me supporting open borders, or illegal immigration? No. Why should it? To love immigrants is not to believe America has no right to decide who can come to America and become a citizen. America has always decided who comes here. That's why it all worked.

While the marchers seemed to be good people, and were very likable, the march itself, I think, violated the old immigrant politesse--the general understanding that you're not supposed to get here and immediately start making demands. It would never have occurred to my grandparents to demand respect. They thought they had to earn it. It would never have occurred to them to air mass grievances, assert rights, issue a list of legislative demands. Especially if they were here unlawfully.

I happen to think America in general has deep affection for immigrants, knows they are part of the dynamic, a part of our growth and our endless coming-into-being. But when your heart is soft, and America's is, your head must be hard.

We are a sovereign nation operating under the rule of law. That, in fact, is why many immigrants come here. They come from places where the law, such as it is, is corrupt, malleable, limiting. Does it make sense to subvert our own laws to facilitate the entrance of those in pursuit of government by law? Whatever our sentiments and sympathies as individuals, America has the right, and the responsibility, to protect the integrity of its borders, to make the laws by which immigrants are granted entrance, and to enforce those laws.

I think open-borders proponents are, simply, wrong. I think those who call good people like members of the voluntary border patrols "yahoos" are snobs. I think those whose primary concern is preserving the Hispanic vote for the Democratic Party, or not losing the Hispanic vote for the Republican Party, are being cynical, selfish, and stupid, too. It's not all about who gets what vote, it's about continuing a system of laws that has allowed America to become, among many other things, a place immigrants want to come to. And it's about admitting immigrants in a coherent, orderly, legal manner, with an eye first to what America needs. That's how you continue a good thing, which is what we've had. That's how you leave Americans who've been here for a while grateful for immigration, and immigrants, and loving them, and even wanting, sometimes, to kiss their hands.

As always, Peggy Noonan is a great read. Check it out.