The American Spectator

Note that a majority still says that if it takes a fence to do the job, then by all means build a fence. But that’s the least popular option, the fallback if other options fail.

THERE’S A CRUCIAL COROLLARY to these results that the pro amnesty/easy-guest-worker/lesser-restriction crowd always gets wrong. Again and again, that crowd — Ted Kennedy, John McCain, President Bush — acts as if they flat-out don’t believe the frequent protestation of the tough-on-illegal coalition that the tough guys really do welcome legal immigrants, just not illegal ones. At the National Review Institute conservative summit earlier this year, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush otherwise wowed the crowd — but he created an angry buzz that had not even begun to dissipate a full day later when his pro-guest-worker comments almost explicitly criticized the motives of the get-tough folks, as if they (we) are all xenophobes rather than people who sincerely welcome outsiders as long as they, but only if they, are willing to follow our laws.

The subtleties in the McLaughlin poll, showing overwhelming support for strong border enforcement but a carefully calibrated sense of how to go about it, shows that Americans remain a welcoming people but a people who insist that it must actually mean something to be an American. It means that you abide by our laws, including those governing how you come here in the first place. It means that you join our common culture, especially by learning our common language. Yes, your culture can enrich ours, and our culture will value the additions yours makes to our own — but only if you make the effort to make yours a part of ours, rather than to make ours bend to yours at our own expense.

Our language and our laws are sacrosanct. If you don’t like it, stay out — or else be hunted down, jailed, and deported.

But if you want to actually be an American, and voluntarily respect the social compact, this sacred covenant, that defines our civic life….well, then, by all means, come on in! Good citizens and good visitors are always welcome here in these United States. Just do us the courtesy of honoring our rules.