(National Review Online) This column was written by Mark Krikorian.

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Prominent Democrats have recently taken to striking pro-enforcement poses on immigration. They see the gap between the president's stance and that of the overwhelming majority of the Republican base, and they want to peel off enough of those voters -- or just induce them to stay home -- to overcome the GOP's narrow majorities in the past few elections.

During the third debate of last year's presidential campaign, John Kerry promised to "toughen up our borders" and "crack down on illegal hiring." Hillary Clinton has turned heads with remarks like "I am . . . adamantly against illegal immigrants." And over the past week, the Democratic governors of both New Mexico and Arizona have declared their border counties disaster areas; New Mexico's Bill Richardson blasted Washington for not showing "the commitment or the leadership to deal with border issues," while Janet Napolitano of Arizona explained that "the federal government has not done what it needs to do and has promised to do."

If the Democrats were serious about pursuing Republican-leaning voters dissatisfied with the immigration blather from the White House, you might see a productive bidding war between the parties to see who could better reflect the public's long-ignored desire to control immigration. Unfortunately, they're just doing a two-step, weaving fairy tales for broad public consumption, while telling the truth to their real constituency. Hillary, for instance, has earned a D- from Americans for Better Immigration for her utterly conventional positions in support of amnesty, etc. The southwestern governors, for their part, have taken every opportunity to facilitate illegal immigration; Richardson recently approved a bill to provide illegal aliens with in-state tuition at New Mexico state colleges, while Napolitano earlier his year vetoed a bill reaffirming the authority of state and local cops to enforce immigration law.

There's no reason this has to be so. Given the importance of business to the Republican coalition, Democrats should own this issue, boasting of their efforts to protect American workers and minorities and to preserve the integrity of the welfare state.

But this won't happen because open immigration has become an immutable value of the Left. There is no policy the liberal establishment won't abandon, no election it won't forfeit, no constituency it won't sacrifice to ensure the survival and success of open borders.

By Mark Krikorian
Reprinted With Permission From National Review Online.

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