Reaction to my latest article on immigration has been divided: Some dislike it for being too tough on illegals and some dislike it for being too soft on them. B.C. writes:

Ahem,
“My principal concern about immigration is the extent to which immigrants assimilate culturally[SNIP]“
A more dangerous affinity for social engineering has never been uttered in all of human history. True, it has been uttered differently by the likes of Marx, Hitler, and Stalin, (and for different reasons); but the axiom of life is that population control inevitably leads to to the enforcement of thought crimes. Thanks for reminding me why I’m not a conservative.
A libertarian, [Name]

J.D. writes:

You and Nadler foul your logic when you make this “republicans can’t seem to be against illegal aliens as people” appeal. It’s as if you’re saying….gee, they may have broken our immigration, labor, and tax laws but they’re still people. Yeah…..people who broke our damn laws!!! Somehow, you two think that we’ve got to sugar-coat the position of Amercians insisting on lawful behavior of those who reside within our borders and benefit from our country. And, what do we Americans care if the damn illegal aliens feelings are hurt because we want our immigration laws enforced.
I want to see how your opinion might change if the hispanic criminal gang festers in YOUR CITY sir. But you sit in your damn NY or Georgetown condo pontificating about how we need to be more inclusive with lawbreakers. KMA.

To take these ideas in order: 1) I think illegal immigrants’ law-breaking is wrong but not gravely wrong. I don’t think we have a moral obligation to amnesty them all or deport them all. 2) Deporting criminal aliens is a great idea. 3) I don’t especially care about the impact of policies on people’s “feelings,” illegal immigrants or otherwise, but when those feelings affect legal voters’ political behavior sane political parties will want to take notice. 4) No thanks on that last bit.