Suddenly a remote part of your border is swamped by huge quantities of illegal aliens, claiming to be "refugees." What do you do? If you are the Italian Government, whose distant southern island of Lampedusa, conveniently close to the coasts of Tunisia and Libya, has abruptly become an ultra-fashionable destination for migrants from the South, you short-circuit traditional procedures and fire up the passenger jets. Even if the UN whines at you.
If you are the Bush Administration, you ignore events in Arizona and stay resolutely asleep.
I am in the apparently unique position of regarding both David Frum and Pat Buchanan as personal friends. (Diversity is strength!) David is a considerable, and careful, polemicist, and I am puzzled that his most recent attack on Pat has been refuted by Tom Piatak in Chronicles with such apparent ease. (I regard Piatak as a friend too. What can I say, I'm just a nice guy.) David is still (discreetly) OK on immigration, though. Don't tell Karl Rove!
Gregory Rodriguez's denunciation of what he called "Pouty White People" elicited some strong replies from LA Times readers. By the way, the person who selects the Letters to the Editor for the Los Angeles Times has long been the main advocate of immigration sanity at the Times.
