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P.S. In 1987, Ronald Reagan stood in West Berlin and asked Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Now, a couple decades on, large swaths of Reagan’s party want to build a massive one in their own country. Historical analogizing is fraught with peril, and these situations are, of course, totally different, in a number of ways. Still, symbolism matters.

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Rule of law and discouraging illegal immigration is important, but the measures being urged to counter illegals entering this country (especially the more excessive ones that Bush has rightly avoided) are not in keeping with an America meant to serve as beacon to those less advantaged than we, those hoping to become part of the so-called American dream. They are instead provincial reactions born of cheap fear-mongering and hysteria. Fostering immigration has always been part of America’s DNA. Wall-building and mass deployment of national guardsmen to protect our borders against immigrants, even if we are talking of illegals in the main, have not. Or so I thought.