[Chris Alger]

The non-sequitur queen at it again. Typically without a shred of evidence, Noonan contends that today's anti-immigrant zealots are a new breed concerned primarily with abstract rule-of-law issues instead of the fears and prejudices that have driven their movement for the last 150 years. Policy makers who fail to recognize this truism are therefore "unknowing and empty-headed."

Nearly every GOP pundit that opines on immigration fails to mention the obvious: illegal immigration is GOP policy. "Illegal" immigrants come here because they are aided and abetted by highly visible employers who give them jobs. If the U.S. didn't want the immigrants to come, they'd tax or punish the employers to the point where the jobs are no longer economical to provide. The GOP doesn't do this because immigrants help more than hurt and the GOP isn't in the business of screwing small employers. We could rationalize the policy with the sort of guest worker programs they have in other rich countries, but racism and xenophobia make it politically infeasible. The GOP trick is to capitalize on the hatred without having to hurt the employers. Peggy Noonan's insinuations that current immigrants are more often cynical lawbreakers now than at any time in the past is just another speech insert for GOP demagogues. After all, it's her job.