Democrats continue to court the Hispanic vote in a desperate gambit to forestall a massive defeat in the mid-term elections. President Barack Obama is attempting to generate energy and enthusiasm among the electoral coalition that brought him to power in 2008 in order to prevent losing the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate when voters go to the polls in November.

In that context, on July 1, Mr. Obama delivered his first major speech on immigration since he assumed the presidency. "We've always defined ourselves as a nation of immigrants-a nation that welcomes those willing to embrace America's precepts," he said at American University. According to Mr. Obama, there are two categories of immigrants that America has always welcomed: on one hand, there have been those entrepreneurs whose energies have significantly contributed to the national welfare; on the other hand, there have been "the countless names...that never made the history books but were no less consequential in building this country," who came here looking for "a place where they could be, at long last, free to work and worship and live their lives in peace."

Throughout his speech, Mr. Obama implied that to this latter category—the "huddled masses yearning to be free"—belong also the approximately 12 million "undocumented immigrants" currently in the country. He failed, of course, to point out that the huddled masses of generations past were "documented" as soon as they set foot upon Ellis Island.  They, unlike today's "undocumented" masses immigrated in accordance with the rule of law.

What, then, are we to do about these millions?  After all, as Mr. Obama mentioned repeatedly throughout this speech, the "overwhelming majority" of them have come here "simply to find work." In fact, in the view of these desperate migrants, the best hope for them is to risk their lives by illegally crossing the border. Should not the securing of our southern border be our first order of business, then? But according to Mr. Obama, this just "won't work."

Instead, Mr. Obama declared that "we have to demand responsibility from people living here illegally."  That is fair enough.  But of what does this "responsibility" consist? "They should be required," he specified, "to register, pay their taxes, pay a fine, and learn English," all as prerequisites for the granting of citizenship.  Yet, given the low-wage labor they perform, the "undocumented," taken as a whole, would surely receive more from taxpayer-funded entitlement programs than they would pay in taxes.  Even more importantly, though, consider what comes first on Mr. Obama's itemized list of "responsibilities:" they must register-i.e., to vote.  Therefore, behind all the apparent concern for the plight of the "undocumented" lies an effort on the part of Democrats to bring millions of new voters into the voting booths across the land.

In light of this, we must ask for whom would these millions most likely vote? Mr. Obama is taking a page from another Democrat who secured a durable Democratic majority: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was long remembered as "the great man" who led our nation through the Great Depression, forged the New Deal and paved the way toward victory in World War II, thus branding the Democratic Party as both compentent on the world stage and compassionate to the people. Likewise, so would these countless millions remember Mr. Obama as "the great man" who, to use the president's own language, would lead them out of "the shadows" and into the light of American citizenship. They would surely vote, for generations to come, for the beloved Democrats who helped get them there. 

American Hispanics, however, are not monolithic on the issue of immigration, according to The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a Washington-based non-partisan, non-profit research organization. A February report titled "An Examination of Minority Voters' views on Immigration" by Steven A. Camarota, director of Research at CIS, reveals that 56 percent of Hispanics consider current levels of immigration to be too high, 61 percent said that illegal immigration is due to inadequate enforcement, 65 percent said there are many Americans who can do the jobs illegals are doing and 52 percent said enforcement of the laws will encourage illegals to go home. Hence, the legal Hispanics in this nation hold views that are far more complex than the zealous amnesty advocates would lead us to believe.

The mainstream media are trying to portray all Hispanic Americans in favor of amnesty in some form or other.  In fact, many Hispanic Americans oppose illegal immigration on the basis of a due respect for the rule of law.  The Americano, for instance, a bilingual online journal to which prominent Hispanic and non-Hispanic Americans contribute, maintains the following position on the issue:

There is much sense in this. The answer to the question what sorts of immigrants with what sorts of skills we seek should depend upon the current national need.  How prudent would it be for any country, not less than 10 percent of whose own huddled masses yearn for jobs, to add another 12 million people to its labor force-let alone to its unemployment rolls?  But, alas, along the border between logic and contemporary liberalism there stands a great, impenetrable wall. 

In essence, this is an attempt by Mr. Obama and the Democrats at a political power play which, if accomplished, would benefit the Democratic Party at the expense of the national welfare.