Several readers suggested that the president’s anti-enforcement/pro-amnesty bias arises from concern that the left-wing populist would win the July presidential election in Mexico if we decided to enforce our immigration laws. This “Bolsheviks are coming unless we pass an amnesty” theme has been featured in recent articles in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

First of all, the president’s views are more deeply held than that — this may be on the list of things the White House is concerned about, but it’s not the source.

And anyway, Mexico’s a grown-up country with its own politics; things are falling apart in Mexico quite nicely on their own, as the link Derb posted yesterday shows. If anything, the growing political tumult in Mexico is an argument for getting the fence built quicker. At most, you might argue that Mexico’s election is an argument for doing nothing until after July. But to say that America must leave itself exposed to illegal immigration so Latin America will like us is almost as silly as arguing that the Strategic Defense Initiative was a provocative act.