The rumblings in respect of the immigration issue are getting so loud and so frequent that it’s going to be difficult for the politicians to defer action for much longer. Last week, Rep. Steve King, a Republican of Iowa who is a member of the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on immigration, stopped by our office to, among other things, call for what he described as “a selfish immigration policy.” He said a survey of his constituents found 97% of them wanted to eliminate all illegal immigration and reduce legal immigration. Mr. King said that Rep. Thomas Tancredo, chairman of the congressional immigration-reform caucus, has been in Iowa laying the groundwork for a potential 2008 presidential run focused on immigration. Mr. Tancredo has offered legislation that calls for deploying the Army and the Air Force to keep immigrants from crossing the border into America illegally.

Another recent visitor to The New York Sun, the new consul general of Ireland in New York, Timothy O’Connor, mentioned that the Irish government is supportive of the McCain-Kennedy bill that would help immigrants already in America illegally. But it’s not just visitors to our editorial rooms that are abuzz over the immigration. The columnist Cal Thomas wrote last week that President Bush should use the Paris riots as an occasion for an immigration crackdown in America. Mr. Thomas approvingly quoted a long-time conservative activist, Paul Weyrich, as saying,” As conservatives, we need to make it clear that we will not vote for any candidate who refuses to close our borders to illegal immigration and cut back on legal immigration, at least until we can acculturate the immigrants we already have.”

Saturday, the Manhattan Institute’s Tamar Jacoby weighed in with an article in the Wall Street Journal warning against an effort brewing by Congressional Republicans to end the American practice of granting citizenship automatically to those born in this country, even if their parents are here illegally. The American Prospect, a left-wing magazine, meanwhile, is out with a dispatch in its November issue headlined “The New Nativism: The alarming overlap between white nationalists and mainstream anti-immigrant forces.” Los Angeles Times yesterday reported that business groups are worried by the Bush administration’s “increasingly tough talk on illegal immigration,” which goes as far as calling December “border security month.”

All of this can be healthy if it gives the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in America a way out of the shadows. Having immigration laws that are widely disregarded erodes the rule of law and poses a security threat. But if Congress or the administration crack down on illegal immigration without also sharply increasing the levels of legal immigration, they’d be making a mistake. It wouldn’t just be political suicide in a nation of immigrants in which Republicans are on the verge of making historic inroads with Hispanic voters. It would be betrayal of America’s purpose and history as a refuge for those around the world seeking political, religious, and economic freedom. It would be a protectionist mistake for an economy that is in need of more labor to help create growth. Illegal immigration, after all, is a sign that the levels of legal immigration are set too low to meet the needs of the labor market.

We share the national security concerns that are being voiced by opponents of completely open borders. We’re for open borders in theory, but recognize the problems that arise in the kind of war we are fighting against a foe that has already abused our immigration laws to deploy a fifth column on our campuses and in our towns and cities. But America has nothing to fear from legal immigration, even at significantly higher levels. Immigration has historically been a source of American strength. That’s a point that even the most xenophobic policymakers may find themselves reminded of this week as they gather to feast on the bounty of our land and to give thanks to God in a tradition that was started by the religious pilgrims who took the first steps toward the creation of the idea of America.