Mark, yes, that David Brooks piece made strange reading indeed. Most striking of all, perhaps, was his penultimate sentence:

“But if we close our borders to new immigration, you can kiss goodbye the new energy, new tastes and new strivers who want to lunge into the future.”

Talk about creating a straw man. I doubt if many ‘restrictionists’ (if we must use that term) are talking about closing the border altogether: far from it. What they are asking for is more effective policing, a more carefully considered look at what contribution a potential immigrant can make to the prosperity of Americans (as opposed, say, to the ability of Wal-Mart to hire workers on the cheap) and, finally, a narrower definition of those entitled to immigrate on ‘family’ grounds. Sadly, the President does not seem prepared to listen.