Fair point, Derb. Instead of “As a nation, we want to encourage immigration[,]” I think I’d have been better generalizing that, with our “nation of immigrants” self-image, we instinctively think of ourselves as favorably disposed toward legal immigration — although, as Mark aptly points out, merely saying, “I support legal immigration,” really doesn’t say much about many attendant issues that ought to be considered.

I didn’t mean to suggest that this instinctively favorable outlook on immigration does or should translate into a strong emotional attachment to it. We ethnics may have come from immigrants, know and like immigrants, etc., but, for me at least, having a generally positive image of it is vastly different from saying we should always, under all circumstances, have a steady stream of it. Without assimilation, immigration is not a force for good in a society like ours.