Having read Steven Greenhut’s editorial in the June issue (American Proscenium), I must ask: Why is Mr. Greenhut not against all immigration?  In order to be consistent with the general tenor of his article, he should be totally against any kind of immigration right now, as am I.  I often hear people say that they are for legal immigration, as if to say, “Hey! I am really a nice guy, even if I haven’t thought the whole thing through.”  How is assimilation ever going to be accomplished if immigration is not ground to a screeching halt at once?  America had a big influx of immigrants around the start of the 20th century, stopped it pretty much until after World War I, took in some more, and then halted it for about 60 years, while everyone became good Americans.

By the way, we are not a nation of immigrants, which is the big lie that our leaders keep telling us, but we are colonizers, settling a huge and wild country.  Probably 85 or 90 percent of Americans were born here, so there are not really that many immigrants, compared with the general population.  That base canard should stop being promulgated.

        —Peter Meis
Tucson, Arizona

Mr. Greenhut Replies:

Mr. Meis does exactly what the La Raza crowd does: completely blur the distinction between legal and illegal immigration, as if it makes no difference whether someone came here by sneaking in from Tijuana in the trunk of a Toyota or went through the long process of waiting in line and getting a green card.  To open-borders supporters, an immigrant is an immigrant and should be welcome here with all the rights of citizenship.  To Mr. Meis and others like him, an immigrant is an immigrant and should be kept out of the country, period.

I don’t think immigration has to be an all-or-nothing affair.  If half of Alberta moved to the United States tomorrow, I doubt many people would even notice or care.  My neighborhood of perfectly assimilated, American-flag-waving, English-speaking immigrants functions exactly like my nonimmigrant neighborhood functioned in Ohio.

The problem is not immigration per se but the lawlessness that comes from illegal immigration and the burden mass immigration of poor people places on the culture and the social-service system.